03 May 2013

Rainforest Reconnaissance


The forest floor of our love holds
forty years of scattered leavings as loam
for yet more growth, riotous and jungly,
our understory thick as old growth mahogany.

Love, now moistly deciduous from our equatorial
heat or the chafing of our years' burdens, but so
sprinkled with caches of color, like strong- beaked toucans,
as to be in all our seasons' memories, suffused in beauty.

Now our uppermost branches expand
umbrellalike, held over the lives of loved ones
who come to sit awhile in the cool of this canopy. Some
become taller than those surrounding, a grand emergent

occurring unexpectedly, perhaps groomed by others,
like howler monkeys, in this fertile layer of our love.
Together we howl our loud lusty call down the rainforest strata
and stand awed by the swarming life sprung forth.



This is in response to Victoria Slotto over at dVerse Poets Pub who talked of Voice in poetry and urged us to speak of something we're passionate about and reveal our personal attitude in the process. Long- term love of my Honey is my passion and I seek to find new ways to express it. Meanwhile, Hannah, over at Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads, asked us to write about the tropical rainforest, so I used this as my inspiration for a love metaphor. Photo is taken in the rainforest of Trinidad where my daughter and her family live.


38 comments:

  1. AWESOME, THAT IS THE WORD I HAVE IT FOR THIS POEM!!!!! NEVER IMAGINED THAT OUR LIVES TOO CAN BE COMPARED OR CAN BE A RAIN FOREST. REALLY VERY BEAUTIFUL AND HEART TOUCHING POEM.

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  2. this is a wonderful metaphor for a deep, colorful and fruitful love....and and the wild beauty of the jungle and of such love....smiles...beautiful

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    1. I'm figuring some things out after 40 years- rich, amazing years. And with the help of my Honey (if I'm going to be in it for 40 years, he's definitely the one to do it with!)

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  3. ha. i like the allusions of the forest in your family...the umbrella over all...the loud lusty call like howler monkey...i almost choked on my lunch there...smiles...this is really cool

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    1. Sorry about the choking but glad it resonated with you!

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  4. Love your thoughts on the rainforest .. and that howler monkey.. great.

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    1. My daughter lives in the rainforest of Trinidad and I've visited there for the last 12 years. Howlers let you know where they're at.

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  5. I love the metaphor of the rain forest for your love and devotion ~ May it spring more light, laughter and love for your ever growing family ~

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  6. I adore this! Your canopy, which your children and grandchildren find shelter... fantastic write!

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  7. Just found you on Real Toads. This poem has the beauty that only one of us "crones" can conjure, because it's about long-time love, protectiveness for one's family, and an appreciation for nature honed over years.

    I love your treetops; hope I am providing the same umbrella for Lex (my "last" husband. I tried once; it didn't take. If this one goes phlooey after 15 years, I'm done!) and my Asperger's daughter, Riley.

    Lovely, just lovely. Your fellow 50-something, Amy Barlow Liberatore

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  8. I'm glad you found me- I checked out your blog as well. Crones we are, and we share time spent in a real rainforest- mine is my daughter's in Trinidad's Northern Range. I'm actually 65- something!

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  9. This is wonderful, Mary...the love story and the photo of the rain forest. What a great combination!
    K

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    1. I'm enduringly grateful to be involved in both.

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  10. Mary, I would have to say this is the best poem of yours that I can remember. What a beautiful expression of love, tried and true, enduring. I think those of us in the later years are able to understand true passion--its burdens and rewards. Yeah!

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    1. Thank you so much. Great passion has both doesn't it? Both deepen us though and make life worthwhile.

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  11. Great metaphor - and brought a smile to my face.

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  12. Your love comes through loud and clear. And beautifully expressed.

    (The poem you commented on is not about me. It is based on what I have seen of others' situations in the past.)

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  13. Amazing photo and poem!!

    I love this:

    "Now our uppermost branches expand
    umbrellalike, held over the lives of loved ones
    who come to sit awhile in the cool of this canopy."

    and the metaphor...well done, thank you for writing!

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    1. I enjoyed this, Hannah. It gave me a way to see our realtionship in a fresh way.

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  14. Very heartfelt poetry, and a lovely lovely image of the passion of love. thank you, Mary. I am in awe of your ability to create. :-)

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  15. This is full of passion for the beauty of the rainforest. I have been so blessed to have visited two of them. For those who have never been it is hard to describe.

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    1. It's a rich place that gave me a way to write about a rich relationship.

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  16. Wonderful poem, Mary, and lucky lucky you. k.

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  17. Thank you for the color, the warmth, the allegory, the invitation "to sit awhile in the cool of this canopy." Your writing is dese and gorgeous like its years. (I enjoy your comments at my blog, too!)

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    1. Thanks, Susan. I like the blogoshpere for this meeting of fellow travelers.

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  18. As you tell it, the rainforest becomes a wonderful metaphor for love and family and life. You are so good at this!

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    1. I get inspired by reading other contemporary poets on blogs. What a world this internet opens.

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  19. How beautiful and creative!

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  20. What a fantastic write. I especially love that family members come to sit in the cool of the arbor you have created under the canopy......the photograph is stunning! Your daughter lives in heaven!

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    1. It's surely one of the great pleasures of elder years.

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