Ode to the Gardener – click here to hear the poem read
Opalescent tendrils of vascular bundles
transmitting ecstatic affiance to a
hypanthia of fractals reaching
the garden’s frontis piece
quincunxial arrangement
with Syrinx at the center
she presides at the gate
reeds echoing melismas
of verdant overtures poetic
past nymphs in fits of paraesthesia
pounding sepals, petals, stamens, osculant
while a hawser binds leeward vessels tightly
fleeing from Pan’s wild and ferruginous lust
the nectary sustains a comminuted fracture
Bohdi tree’s enlightening sap releasing
it is a mandala ever spinning
universe’s ontology round
a radiant funiculus
a bliss eternal
Dedicated to Joy (Hedgewitch)
Chromapoetica 
man I do dig this one. you leave better comments than I do. this is just so good. very nice.
Thank you for reading, for the comment on the poem, and on the quality of my comments. I put a lot of thought into both.
Anna, I’m touched. This is a lovely poem–classically urn-shaped to hold a wine of well-fermented images, or perhaps a fine oil scented with all the botanical treasures you’ve called forth, or vase for a fragrant verbal bouquet. Some of these terms I remember from Hort 101, but Syrinx was a lovely, amazing reference. And I learned several wonderful new words, especially melismas and oculant–I love them, they are all nvited into my devil’s dictionary.
I am not sure why Pan’s lust is ferruginous? Do you mean his fine manly sword has become rusty (it’s possible,in all that dewy bacchanalian communing) or do you refer to our stubborn red clay soil, high in alkalinity and iron, which splits the hearts of many plants which try to grow in it, usually not in a savoring kind of way, however.
I really enjoyed this. It’s a wonderful tribute to any garden and gardener, and grown by one who word gardens/paints with a great sense of purpose and beauty.
Ha! Yes, I was making a joke about poor Pan who has lost his potency after all these years of neglect, kind of a nod to the character of Pan in Jitterbug Perfume. I like your take on the stubborn red clay it’s a wonderful addition to the meaning. My college thesis was on the genetic variability of the Gambel Oak population in Colorado so I enjoyed throwing the botany around for this write. I’m thrilled you enjoyed the reference to Syrinx and found some new friends (words) to play with. You’ve been so kind to come and engage my work, I just wanted to say thank you.
well now. you couldn’t have found a worthier poet to dedicate something to than that canna leaf roller killer hedgewitch. as soon as i get done snickering about poor pan, i’ll say something deep. honest i will.
i want to tell you how much i like your kind-to-the-eyes blue background. so many blogs have a harsh white background and after a while i need a white cane as a result. this is soothing, like dipping into a pool.
finally, you have no idea how much i (well all right, not me, but i’m a fictional character. i refer to my inventor, fireblossom) appreciated your comment on “the dime priest.” we mothers all spout the party line about loving each of our babies equally, but i love that particular baby best among my own, and your comment went straight into my special file i have for comments i wish to keep. thank you, anna.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the comment, it’s a marvelous poem. Also, I laughed a great deal reading the post that created Coal Black, the song lyrics were particularly awesome, and look forward to reading more of your work. My brother and I love to come up with fictional band names, imagine their style, cover art, and lyrics. Tracking Cookies, a Japanese steam punk band who appear on the album cover wearing modified 1930s chauffer uniforms with superhero black bands across their eyes. Not our best one but the one that comes to mind :).
Great Pan ain’t dead, he’s just morphed into the pixie manure that makes this garden grow so delightfully empurpled (er, dioxazened) between poetry and botany, at once hymn as specimen. Amazing, isn’t it, how the language of science dances so perfectly with that of poetry? I think you found the perfect balance here to dare and honor, delight and inform. That Pan in Tom Robbins’ novel was, I believe, once characterized as “a fireomber in the house of good taste”: an aesthetic for sure that’s both high-minded and down n dirtry. You and Hedgewitch and Coal Black/Fireblossom form a fine (if scary) triad of happy harpies, And don’t nobody mess with H’s garden fruit, else Pan’s badboy son-enforcer Priapus will plumb the bum of said poor thief. While Hedgewitch laughs and laughs. A real hoot to read …
Glad it brought a smile – as for you calling me a harpy, why yes, I do have lovely hair.
Wow….I would need to read this over several times to understand its depths. Fabulous writing.
Thank you for visiting me, too.
You’re welcome. Unfortunately my settings got off temporarily and I don’t know who your are. I’ve got it all fixed now. I’m sure I enjoyed your work too :).
I’m already laughing. Afa the harpy thing–it’s the claws and wings I find most useful.
Anna, thanks for your kind words about Lithophyte–that was my first real poem ever,the first that ever came together and stood up on its own feet, and as the mighty Coal says, there are some of our poem children that we love more than others. And you talk about me engaging with your work–in my experience only one reader in hundreds ever reads anything but the latest post or two. Thank you again for digging deeper into my Pan-composted soil.
wow. joy surely deserves such beautiful poetry and more…love the concrete shape, which in itself is an ode to her as she spills out some of the finest poetic wine i have read…i feel a bit bad for pans rusty sword, i am sure there may be a pill for that…
Thanks Brian, she surely does! Yes, I seem to get a lot of e-mail ads for that pill.
haha…i remember this one…nicely done and nice to revisit for Form For All…mind those ads will you…smiles.
Yes, sadly I’m still getting those e-mail ads :). Thanks for the reread Brian.
Sound, shape, and meaning…all in one. Beautifully done.
Thank you, I enjoyed your submission at dVerse.
Wow, astonishing synchronicity, that you would have used the word “tendrils” in the first line. I just moments ago posted a new poem, with you in mind (after reading your heartfelt comment to “Debt”), that uses the word “tendrilling”. I’m so stunned that I cannot finish reading your poem … yet. I’ll be back! I cannot wait to hear it read. 🙂
LOL! I’m needing a dictionary for this one!
But! that which I understood is beautiful, and Hedgewitch deserves such a lovely piece of work.
And the shape of the poem, as a vase/urn. Lovely.
Lady Nyo
Thank you for visiting and for bearing with me on the dictionary words :).
Erudite and aromatic, etymologically baffling, typographically shapely, and tendrilling to the ears. A marvel on many levels, well done! Thank you, Anna, for reading and commenting on “Hope”. God bless!
Thank you for your lovely comment and your understanding. I look forward to reading more of your work.
I love the way you end this. The last lines are truly stunning.
Thanks, they’re my favorite part too.
This is truly beautiful. I’m a biologist, and blending poetry and science always makes me happy. The shape of the poem is very well done, and those sorts of things can be difficult to arrange at times. I’m truly impressed.
Thank you, you may also enjoy A Constitutive Defensible Line http://chromapoesy.com/2011/07/20/a-constitutive-defensible-line/ which combines cell biology, ecology, physics, and philosophy. I’m honored you enjoyed this.
love the shape, well done.
🙂
Thanks Ji!
wow anna..awesome job on the shaping of your words but more important…what wonderful words..! and that you dedicated it to hedge who i know is a gardener with all her heart makes it even more precious
Claudia, yes, I truly enjoyed writing this one, the challenge of the shape and the beautiful words. Joy deserves all the accolades we can give her :).
very excellently outstanding.
since i live in the desert, where it’s very windy, i can relate to “while a hawser binds leeward vessels tightly”
I used to live in the Chihuahaun desert so I understand that intense wind too. Thank you for your kind compliment, Zongrik.
I don’t know how I missed this when you first posted it – but I could describe it as every fine and wonderful adjective I know and it’s dedicated to my true friend, that great poet – Joy Jones – whom I admire as much as any poet I’ve ever read. I may have to keep a copy of this in my “Joy” folder. Sometimes when I’m down I read Joy’s poems. She inspires me so much!
This is so adroit, deft, excellent in its use of form perfectly formed into an urn like shape – my grandfather, the painter, thought this the most elegant of shapes – and you’ve filled it with the botanical terms so familiar and so well used by the honoree, but here you build this into such an effective paean. Simply Brilliant, Anna!
Yes Joy is a great inspiration, a magnificent poet, and an excellent friend. I’d be honored if you kept a copy. I too sometimes read Joy when I am in need of a peek into her strategic mind and vast imagination.
I agree with your grandfather, it is elegant and lovely. Thank you very much for your kind compliments, they mean a great deal to me as I wanted to give Joy a worthy gift.
Amazing and such a wonderful tribute, with a richness that draws the reader in and feeds the mind while leaving it hungering for the next line. Your shape is so smooth and appropriate. Fabulous work.
Beth
Thank you Beth, I will cherish your comment; it is exactly what I’d hoped to do with the language, picture, and ideas.
Love the urn-shape of this, Anna. And how nice to dedicate to our hedgewitch.
Thanks Victoria!
I love that mandala spinning out form from beneath (the roots:) of the poem.
So many sensual and wild images ran through my mind as I read this.
The tendrils, the sap, I can see bees hovering and beauty flourishing out of the vase and out into the garden.
Thanks, sounds like a veritable party through your eyes. Suzy, I appreciate your thoughts!
Anna, wow, I’m mesmerized with this piece. The image, while shaped and formed, very nicely, is no match for the pristine nature of the poetry itself. Amazing job:)
Fred, the day you read something and don’t like it will be a sad day here at Chromapoesy. I always appreciate your enthusiasm, it makes me feel like I’m doing something right :).
Anna, thanks again so much for this, and also to Gay and Claudia and the many others who’ve said so many kind things about a poet who once thought no eyes but her own would ever see her work or care. It means a very great deal to mean, and your gift couldn’t be better if it were wrapped in gold and offered me a character creation screen where I could roll up the perfect Half-Elf druidess. 😉 And of course, I would have to name her Syrinx.
to me, not to mean. I am so tired today–I wish I could be more articulate–and thanks also for going through the effort of hosting this piece when you yourself are feeling less than swell.
Thank you for coming to read it again and for your kind words. I love character creation screens (I can spend hours there :)) and I love the name you’ve picked out for the perfect Half-Elf druidess. Skyrim, the sequel to Oblivion is out next month and we just watched a video of their character creation. I couldn’t resist this opportunity to sing your praises again – hope you get some rest. I’m going back to watching my BBC miniseries and some more DayQuil!
Very cool. I loved reading the comments on it as well. You “urned” every kudo they sent your way. Almost makes me want to garden.
Thanks for the punny – I giggled but since I’m sick it made a silly sound which I laughed at too. Thanks, I needed that and glad you enjoyed the comments!
The words are mesmerizing. I’m wondering why everyone’s commenting on Pan’s sword–it’s his lust that concerns me. K.
In classical mythology, Syrinx was a nymph and a follower of Artemis, known for her chastity. Pursued by the amorous Greek god Pan, she ran to the river’s edge and asked for assistance from the river nymphs. In answer, she was transformed into hollow water reeds that made a haunting sound when the god’s frustrated breath blew across them. Pan cut the reeds to fashion the first set of pan pipes, which were thenceforth known as syrinx. (from Wikipedia)
perfection!
Coming from the Queen this is high praise – (I’m curtsying but I’m out of practice so it isn’t elegant :))
Accomplished and erudite work. I would like to see that movie.
Thank you Cressida!
Oh my my.. what a lovey shape and poetry…oops you know Anna I read once to understand words second time to make it sing in my mind.. and third I understood I wonder I am so intellectually challenged with words
Thanks, sing in your mind D, that’s a lovely thought!
Beautiful, Anna–and the shape is perfect for the topic. I loved your reference to the mandala ever spinning at the end.
Thank you and I thought you might enjoy that reference :).
it looks to me like a bloom, perhaps an eremophila or a bell shaped flower =)
it is spring here so the busy garden sounds seasonally fitting.
flower forms are mandalas, life and celebration.
hope you are well for your birthday