Such bold chromaticity summons a word search
citrine, canary or golden aurulent
yellow is too weak-kneed to grasp the vivid
enfeebled by cowardice and a furtive recreant
feasting my eyes I hunger also for a lexicon
that conceives an aromatic fragrance
scenting the mot juste between stench and odour
with a jaundiced pungency of remembrance
In China azalea is the ‘thinking of home’ flower
and lost among acres of lurid hue
when the Spring bubbled up in champagne
a lily-livered teen turned black with blue
Choosing ‘yellow’ as I join Real Toads with the word family prompt of antonyms and synonyms: Kerry says – let’s visit the family
And later I’ll be popping into Poetry Pantry to re-unite with other versifiers
I don’t think i have ever seen yellow azaleas, and you are right, they deserve a better word than yellow. I really admire this poem from start to finish. So many strong words in a full range of emotions. Thank you for participating.
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and thank you for the prompt – fun exploring how one word leads to another sometimes with different connotations
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I do remember the bloom of those yellow Azalea, but even more their wonderful smell… I think golden is more suitable than yellow.. Love all the name of yellow you have used.
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its link with the liver also brings a jaundiced view 😉
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Unique words for a unique plant. I need to read it again to think on it more.
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thank you Beth – do you grow these?
just a girl’s memory of new school and losing herself in yellow azaleas – the smell of homesickness!
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turned black with blue
so the blue is homesick
and the black, black mood?
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The ‘black bile’ (melancholia) of a teen with the blues – heavy!
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The play of synonyms here are like petals which spread back to reveal successively more plush interiors, until what it is most like is also a way to describe what it most isn’t — the ennui of “thinking of home” become something suicidal, artery become vein, something yellow become through its more lavish expressions something “black with blue.” No wonder Rilke wrote all those poems about roses, and then had his epitaph read “O Rose, inexhaustible.” Amen.
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Brendan your commentary is like a poem with such an understanding of these yellow azaleas – the Rilke quote is a perfect Amen!
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This is beautiful…all the words for yellow petal your azalea piece. Sometimes things are of such beauty and scent there aren’t enough words to describe them.
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spot on Susie and thank you – we need a thesaurus!
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I so love that last stanza! Very cool write.
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thanks MZ – goes to show that beauty cannot always lift the spirits 😦
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What fun describing these beauties….yes yellow just isn’t enough!
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They bring back some liverish memories too
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