LJ Idol: Prompt- "Happy Detritus"

[drippedonpaper]

Title: "Falling"

And the leaves are falling, falling, falling
Falling like the laws that come and go
Leaders, power, and acorns
Fall equally.

Nature is king.
Gravity rules.
Everything comes down.

Reality swirls in the air
And I don't know where it's going,
Is it coming together
Or falling apart?
Lazy slow circles of leaves,
Quick bursting flurries
that whiz away.

What did I see?
What did you see?
Do any of us see
Anymore?

But ready or not,
It's gone.
Is the country gone?
Are my children gone?
What is gone?
What lingers?

Spring will show.

But to have blossoms,
First,
You fall apart
Bursting into phoenix colors.
I'm burning with passion,
With joy,
My ideals on full display
All can finally see me and now and now
It's over.

First the fading:
Red and orange become crackling brown
Better to fade than fall?

Or go ahead and fall,
Dance,
Wander on the wind of might-have-been?
One last trip before the reckoning?
One fleeting flutter before the fire?

Dreams crunch underfoot.
Chilly wind draws us to the flames.
Moths enamored by our own destruction.
Excitement in danger
Violent flares explode our dreams.

Smoldering embers can reignite.
Loss of a forest,
Loss of a land,
Loss of all we thought was growing.
Empty land
With nothing left to steal.

Summer's shade now autumn coals.
Democratic bonfire-
One last shining
Before the world goes dark.

(The unchosen rot
In quiet piles
Hidden beneath snow.
Nameless remains
Never identified.)

On flows the tide,
Seasons ride.
Death keeps roots warm.

Standing
Revealed and alone.
Flawed skeletons
Unadorned.

A rebirth?
A rebranding?
Who writes the history?
What is truth?

What will sprout in Spring?
Will anything ever grow?
Snow dampens any whispers.
Only the trees know.

Comments

[roina_arwen]

Very evocative!

[drippedonpaper]

I think poetry is my need to describe what cannot be understood? I don't know. Thanks for commenting!

[legalpad819]

There's so much truth in your words. I really enjoyed this.

[drippedonpaper]

Thank you. Please give your dogs extra pets from me :)

[drippedonpaper]

And I still...parts of me still wish with all my heart that this poem wasn't true? I keep hoping that perhaps it's a bit like the adolescence of a country, that we can't talk them out of this, but through experience, lessons will be learned? One can only hope...

[bleodswean]

WHOA!!! So inspired - to use the prompt and falling leaves in autumn to make a political / human statement. This is so well done and every stanza is another surprise.

[drippedonpaper]

Perhaps I was thinking of a meme I've seen, "When you said, 'Are you ready for fall?" did you mean 'autumn' or 'of civilization'? I'm trying so hard to hope that it's a season....and spring will come?

Your kind words mean a lot. I greatly admire your writing. Thank you!

[muchtooarrogant]

There are so many beautiful images here, but I particularly liked:
Lazy slow circles of leaves,
Quick bursting flurries
that whiz away.

Dreams crunch underfoot
That's the thing about dreams though, they tend to span time and hold on for longer than you'd think possible. At least, that's part of the hope I hold on to.

Thank you for sharing this.

Dan

[drippedonpaper]

The speed of the wind constantly amazed me.

I loved a book as a child called, "At the Back of the North Wind" by George MacDonald. A fairy tale of sorts. Ever heard of it?

[muchtooarrogant]

The title sounds familiar, but I don't remember specifics. Will Google it though. :)

Dan

[halfshellvenus]

But to have blossoms,
First,
You fall apart
Bursting into phoenix colors.

I liked this stanza, and the fact that these are phoenix colors, but for nature they then go to ash before rebirth happens.

Falling like the laws that come and go
It's an agonizing era for those of us in this country to be living through, and it continues to get worse. :(

[inkstainedfingertips]

First the fading:
Red and orange become crackling brown
Better to fade than fall?

This line struck me the hardest. I'm not exactly sure why, but this resonated with me... still resonates with me.

There is so much beauty, horror, and truth in your words here, Maria. This is incredibly beautiful, evocative, and thought-provoking. Beautiful work. Really beautiful work.