Wild and white

Published on by Laura Bloomsbury 
today I'll write about white
after all it is April and the wild cherries
are making preparations
there'll be a spread of summer jam
bleached damask tablecloths edged with picot
lifting like coy petticoats in a flurry
and when drapes are drawn to a close
snow will embellish the winter garden
inviting the living to proclaim their presence
pen and ink on a blanched canvas
footfall on coral sand
today it is the inimitable fall of petals
in immaculate transience

This poem is prompted by Waiting on Words day nine: White. And am planting this April poem in the Imaginary Garden’s free-for-all “Tuesday Platform“

39 thoughts on “Wild and white”

  1. Although I used to make both raspberry and strawberry jam, we did go to Door County and pick tons of fresh cherries. I used them to make “Cherry Bounce”, with Brandy added. Potent stuff, but quite smooth. Which is how I responded to your heady mixture of sensuous imagery and color. Thank you,

    Elizabeth

    1. thank you for this prompt – enjoyed writing in white. p.s. Wild cherry brandy might have even more bounce!

  3. Lovely images and descriptions. I love the picture you have painted. It feels charmingly old-fashioned.

    1. thank you Marianne – that photoart flower portrait is how I like to visualise myself 😉 still a bit wild too

    1. as an artist you have been drawn to the imagery so many thanks for your comment Pamela –

    1. definitely a garden with our native wild cherries for blossom and birds – and jam if only the birds that fertilised the seed of this tree would leave some!

    1. the colours appeared out of the blue as I wrote and suddenly made the white all the more achromatic – thank you Margaret

    1. thank you – I worked extra hard on that line – wanting to say something different to ‘blowing in the breeze’

  9. This is such an incredibly exquisite write!💞 You make me want to make cherry marmalade jam and devour it whole! 😀

  10. Lovely words and images of the beauty of white and the promise of red in wild cherry jam…delicious!
    Anna :o]

    1. has overtones of snow white and red rose fairytale I think – thank you Anna

    1. thank you Cressida – an up to the minute scene as the tree is in blossom now but it gave rise to my imaginings too

  12. This is lovely, I especially like
    “bleached damask tablecloths edged with picot lifting like coy petticoats in a flurry”
    These words remind me of family picnics years ago. The blossoms are beautiful! 🙂

    1. tea al fresco – ahh there is nothing like it! thank you – the blossoms I photographed last year and artified them this year just as the tree is flowering again

  14. I feel I have sat down to tea. Lovely poem. I still make jams: cherry, peach, strawberry. I use my mother-in-law’s cherries as she has gotten so she doesn’t pick them anymore. I add kirschwasser to the cherries for some extra bounce!

    1. thank you for stopping by for tea – I always find jam a touch and go success – cherries are made to bounce!

      1. Yes ma’am, that they are. Which is why I add lime zest and peach schnapps to my peach jam. I like bouncy fruits and impertinent tomatoes.

  15. What a gorgeous image in lines evocative of afternoon tea and etiquette:
    ‘bleached damask tablecloths edged with picot
    lifting like coy petticoats in a flurry’.
    I also love the images evoked in:
    ‘pen and ink on a blanched canvas
    footfall on coral sand
    today it is the inimitable fall of petals
    in immaculate transience’.

    1. aimed for the epitome of cherry blossom there – glad you picked up on that – thank you

    1. starting out stating the obvious for the prompt but it turned out quite poetic – thank you!

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