Friday, September 23, 2011

Asters - Writing about Beauty

Stopping by Raiber Road
Photo by Amy LV


Driving home from a school on Wednesday, I was struck by the absolute beauty of autumn wildflowers lining country roads. Gold and purple, brown and green...the mosiac of color and changing life made my soul sigh in wonder.

As I neared home, I pulled my car to the side of the road, got out, and took several photos, including the one at the top of this post. I couldn't shake this picture, those purple faces, fireworks, shouting out to the world, "We are here! It is autumn! Rejoice!"

What do you find so beautiful that it stops you from walking, from talking, from riding your bike? If something makes you pause, makes you think, makes you long for more...write.

Was I inspired by a favorite poem here?  I am certain that I was.  X.J. Kennedy's poem "Blow-Up" speaks of a cherry tree losing its blossoms.  It, too, rhymes the words blast and last.  It, too, is about time's fast passage.

In the words of the Lebanese American poet Kahlil Gibran, "Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary."

Listen to your heart.

If you have not yet visited my new blog, I invite you to Sharing Our Notebooks, a growing blog peeking into the notebooks of all kinds of people and appropriate for classroom sharing and mini lessons.  This week, writer Luke Reynolds has opened up his pages to us!

Anastasia Suen is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Picture Book of the Day.

(Please click on POST A COMMENT to share a thought.)

11 comments:

  1. Hi, Amy. I'm a knitter, so the shawl of asters spoke to me. It's not fall here yet, but soon.

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  2. Those first two lines, BRILLIANT!
    You do poetry proud, Amy.
    Finding gems like that
    is why I love reading poetry.

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  3. Yes, the season has changed so quickly! Thanks for participating in Poetry Friday this week!

    :-) Anastasia

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  4. I love those final words, the asters speaking to us "Love now. We will not last. It's fall." So true, so we have to hurry to take it all in.

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  5. "Violet fireflake" - who thinks of words like that?Glorious and utterly inspired. Lucky you for autumn - we have whole-year round summer over here in Singapore. Enjoy the greens, reds, purples and orangey leaves. ;-)

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  6. Ooh...I just planted some of these in a deep purple and love the sight of them.

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  7. Love this line of thinking. So many things in life are like the asters. Thank you for reminding me to pause and enjoy.

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  8. You are a versatile blogger! http://www.raisingreadersandwriters.com/?p=1128 Check it out! :)

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  9. I'm interested in using this poem in a post about asters on my blog if you're willing. Will give credit and a link back.

    Regards,

    Sandy

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  10. It's lovely to know that there are so many aster-lovers out there! On Saturday, I found that a friend had just made a painting of some...

    Sandy - yes, I'd be honored for you to use the poem. Thank you! Your blog is beautiful.

    A.

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  11. Amy, the post is up. Thanks, it adds such magic!

    http://www.poemfarm.amylv.com/2011/09/asters-writing-about-beauty.html

    Sandy

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