matcha and memories
Posted: September 7, 2012 Filed under: cancer, cycling, food, health, poetry | Tags: cancer, cycling, healing, iced green tea, matcha, poetry 25 CommentsI wrote a poem, originally posted at my fiction blog as a writing prompt for Madison Woods. A comment by one of the readers VB Holmes stopped me. If you have concussion symptoms from a silly bicycle crash ( on top of a lifetime’s worth of ringing bells from rugby ) cancer complicates things. You can wonder what causes things, wonder what are memories, and what are we?
memories, browning leaves so tenuously cling
to branch but rattle amidst the breeze
as if to say, I was here, mark my presence
lest I am forever goneHow glorious the shade of summer
where we kicked off our shoes and
danced and lived protected from the sun
and hard harsh illuminationbut autumn deepens as does night
and one by one they drift away
released floating just beyond our grasp
what shelter from a barren tree
But VB so insightfully commented
…offer a thought on your observation to Claireful: “…if leaves are our memories, at the end of autumn, what are we?” We are the progenitors of those memories which, like fallen leaves, enrich the soil where new ones grow from old roots and carry forth a recollection of their origins.
Some things work at the cellular level much beyond my control, and resolve themselves as they will. But today at lunch, I ordered iced tea, iced green tea. And at the first sip, it exploded across my taste buds with the rich sensual flavor of roasted rice intermingled with subtle green tea. It was matcha, gunpower fine, worthy of a tea ceremony. I savored each sip above my meal. Beauty surrounds us, we just need to find it.
Love your poem and VB’s comment is very perceptive. If you see everything on that cellular level (or below)..you’ll find that all of life is a variation of vibrations…everything vibrates. Things change from one vibration to another as they disintegrate or decline…but “morph” into something else…never “dying” only changing. More food for thought… 🙂
I read that book “The Gift of Fear” many years ago…good information that tells us to heed that intuitive part of ourselves.
Gayle ~
thanks Gayle — I will reflect on that. A metaphysical interpretation of string theory.
Bill
yes! steeped in beauty we are…
now I’m having some tea
I enjoyed hibiscus tea today…
hope you enjoyed yours..
thanks for stopping by
What about the tea leaves? They’re leaves too that were picked before they fell. And then you drink it – and, as you say, things work on the cellular level pretty much beyond my control.
good insight! I hadn’t considered that. — thanks
My melancholy Blog friend, I feel a lot like you. BTW I had my first iced green tea this summer, and loved it.
thanks! sometimes emotions are like batteries and run low, so we need to re-charge them.
iced green tea is fun, and good for you. Much better than soda.
hello — just a check in to see how you and your family are. hope you are doing ok.
I’m Okay. My project finishes next week. My mom won’t be able to hospice. She’s going directly to special care. I’m still going home and will stay with my niece and see her amap! You are so lovely to ask. It means a lot. How ar things with you?
glad you are holding up. Be sure you say your goodbye’s and tell her you love her.
I will tell her I love her, forever. That’s easy, Good-bye is the hard part. I’ll be there soon.
yes it is hard. I remember just last year when my mom died, that it doesn’t matter how old one is, your mom is always Mom.
My condolences! A year is not that long ago.
thank you.
♥
🙂
I loved the poem though never knew ya were such a remarkable poet too!!
The comment was doubtlessly insightful but your poem was much charismatic (according to me)!
Have a good morning!
-Naima.
Thanks — Poetry is play, using words instead of grown up toys.
I was thinking about you when I saw a re blogged post about safety. If you can find it at your library, you should get and read the book “The Gift of Fear” — I had my girls read it. It talks about often our inner radar can detect danger and how to listen to it and avoid danger.
Although I am sure you will be safe, it never hurts for lovely young women to have “street smarts/common sense”
wonderful!!!
thanks!
Beautiful poem – very thought provoking. I will have to read it a few times I think.
thanks — when someone reads a poem twice, that means it worked ( or maybe it is a total mishmash )
but I am glad you stopped by
That last stanza is great.
Her comment is insightful and poetic itself.
yes, it is lovely isn’t it.