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Snapdragons follow the smooth curves
of the garden’s edge. White, yellow,
peach and a pink which darkens
then verges into crimson.
"Tahiti Mix" read the tag wedged in
the speckled earth of the nursery flat.
As spring fleshes out to summer,
they spread in waves which
break along a grass beach.
Caressed by a tropical breeze,
I welcome these bright islanders
now settled in my foreign soil.
Their jeweled heads bob
atop the wavecrests
and with their odd faces
lifted up full to the sun,
they promise to stay all season.
From The Grace of Light (Finishing Line Press, 2004).
This poem first appeared in Pleasant Living Magazine.
Used here with the author’s permission.
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Kathe L. Palka lives in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and writes in both Japanese forms and free verse. Her short tanka collection, As the Years Pass, won an eChapbook Award from Snapshot Press in 2011. In 2015, Red Moon Press published A Path of Desire, a book of tan renga written by Kathe and poet Peter Newton. Two poems from her long form collection, Miracle of the Wine (Grayson Books, 2012), were featured on The Writer’s Almanac. Kathe is a member of the Haiku Poets of the Garden State and has been involved in the presentation of haiku for their yearly April haiku sign installation at the New Jersey Botanical Garden in Ringwood, New Jersey since its inception in 2018. She has co-edited the online micro poetry journal tinywords.com together with Peter Newton since 2012. Kathe is currently at work on a manuscript in Japanese forms. Learn more about her at her Haiku Foundation web page.
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vscholtz:
Love the imagery "speckled earth of the nursery flat" "they spread in waves which break along a grass beach."
I'd write more, but I need to go water the flowers.
Posted 05/19/2012 12:01 PM
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Katrina:
both vibrant and magical! Enchanting.
Posted 05/19/2012 11:07 AM
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wyant:
Precious poem. Any one line doesn't come across as poetic but the piece as a whole is exquisite poetry.
Posted 05/19/2012 08:05 AM
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