I beheaded our 15-year-old
organic roses,
chopping off old doddering faded heads
along with matronly full blossoms,
saucy nubile blooms,
and just-split-lip sepals revealing babysoft
reds and pinks underneath.
I lovingly tore
their petals from their peduncles
and scattered them on drying screens,
dreaming of steaming
cups of black tea
steeped with roses.
~(c) Karen Suriano 2009
I love this- I can smell that tea brewing- very mediatative and visual. Lovely!
Vanessa,
I loved this poem the first time I read it. Very creative! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Love poetry. There’s going to be a Northwest Poetry reading at the Blue Monk this coming week. Might be worth checking out.
Kim,
Thanks for stopping by AND commenting! Not sure where the Blue Monk is located. Email me if you can to provide more details.
Thanks!
Oh Queen of Roses, you write a energetic poem that settles down to a relaxing cup of tea. Ahhhhh, soothing. Two aromas that are the natural perfume to gentle my life when it feels too whirlwind – roses and tea.
Michelle,
Karen Suriano’s poem “Off With Their Heads” is wonderful. Thanks for commenting. I agree, there roses and tea is a beautiful combination.
Dear Karen (2:30 PM):
I enjoyed the tension you created–and therefore the humor–between your “violent” way of proceeding with the beheadings and the delicate object of your violence and, ultimately its gift to you of peace–”cups of black tea steeped in roses.”
And for the record, I have never seen the word “peduncle,” about which the Oxford English Dictionary has now informed me: “1. Bot. The stalk of a flower or fruit, or of a cluster of flowers or fruits; (now) spec. the main stalk or primary axis of an inflorescence. Also: a stalk bearing a fungal fructification (rare).”
Thank you for sharing your work, Karen. And I hope that you are well and happy in the silver tower where you world.
Your friend,
Rick, SJ