no rain that summer
no clouds for the sun to part like veils
the stoney bed of the creek so dry,
we walked on it, finding the tiny skeletons
of wild things – a deer mouse, a fish head
a heat deranged cat visited, brown and scraggy,
beaming her anger from yellow eyes,
her maw quirky and dry
her tongue gone mad
© 2013, poem , Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved; Photo courtesy of morgueFile
at the tender nudge of a gentle wind, the flowers genuflect
and the well-tended rose garden holds me spellbound,
my rapt soul is brimming with its grace-filled movement,
with the vivid and heady mix of earthy and sublime
at night the garden is as incandescent as a saint’s prayer,
as sacred and nearly silent as the ruins of an ancient temple,
in the morning mist we tumble, me with this wealth of roses,
plummeting heart over head beyond the threshold of wonder
“When we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming . . . In the experience of beauty, we awaken and surrender in the same act.” John O’Donahue, The Invisible Embrace, Beauty: Rediscovering the True Sources of Compassion, Serenity, and Hope
If you are viewing this from email, it’s likely you will have to click through to the site to view the rose garden slide show.
©2015, poem and photographs, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved
George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
© 2015, photograph, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved
“The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life and activity; it affords protection to all beings, offering shade even to the axe-man who destroys it.” attributed to The Buddha
Thanks to my much treasured friend, Mick B. for this wonderful quote. It reminds me also of the visions of a generous nature sharing often stunning beauty amid the dreck of city life: the intrusive metal posts and gates with their rusty chains; the garbage, dust and dirt; the sometimes awkward or sterile architectures housing human beings boxed and stacked twelve or more stories high.
This lush and colorful bird of paradise is thriving in the squalor of a bank parking lot alongside some smelly dumpsters belonging to the bank’s neighbor, a pizzeria.
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 