Now is the season when the goddess Demeter welcomes her daughter Kore (or Persephone) back from the Underworld, her joy at the reunion kindling Spring for the world. Here she finds in the first daffodil her beloved daughter's presence.
DEMETER'S DAFFODIL
(for Willow at Magpie Tales)
To dip
into your corolla
carefully one wintry
finger and touch
to my throat
what I hear begin tuning
up downwind,
the little frogs
chorusing cullowhee
cullowhee, Cherokee
shivaree down by
the rain-swollen Tuckasee-
gee, what sweeter
scent than the attar
of you ever
after come back
to me, Golden
Girl!
My laughing daughter!
24 comments:
Very nice.
Thank you, Helen! Time for a little wordplay now that the sun is actually shining.
Lovely, I enjoyed this poem very much, thanks!
cullowhee
cullowhee, Cherokee
shivaree down by
the rain-swollen Tuckasee-
gee,
love that sound play :)
"Cullowhee, Cullowhee, Cherokee shivaree" -- oh, you poet, you! The sound of running water ...
And the Demeter/Persephone story is so touching -- and how perfectly you've used it!
Kay ... I love this!!! While I'm here on Cherry Mountain, I almost felt as if I could hear the little frogs!!! That's brilliant ... brilliant yellow! :) Love ya!
Hello Sundance HIll, so glad you dropped by and enjoyed the poem. I had fun writing it, I must say. It helped me get through a gloomy day. And Jessie, word play doesn't often find its way into our busy days. (yes, this rhymes!) Spring helps. Thank you again for being such a faithful visitor!
Vicki and Lynn, bless you both for being my bloggin' friends. The Demeter/Kore myth has been central to my life. Have you read Eavan Boland's poems using this? I love them.
I loved your cleverness at rhyming and the words Golden Girl, my laughing daughter were wonderful and just like a daffodil!
Christine
I like this pretty poem very much – the flowing words, the images it gives to the mind’s eye.
clever and beautiful
Such "golden" imagery. A story told with talent and style. I enjoyed it very much.
Oh, that's really nice!
Oh, this is delightful, Kay! My Cherokee DNA is tingling right down to my toes!
Vagabonde, thank you--having fun with words is something poets forget sometimes. We are supposed to be so serious, you know, so anguished, so sensitive.
Poets just want to have fun. Like girls. (Thank you, Cyndi Lauper.)
Lisa, I've always wanted to be clever. Most of the time I'm not. thank you for the compliment. And Eric, yes, I can't get "story" out of my poems. Should I? I don't think so.
Catalyst, the daffodil was definitely catalytic for me!
And Willow, I didn't know you were also Cherokee? You are so many things. How do you do it? Liked your daffodilly poem very much!
What talent! Thank you for the beautiful imagery.
All awaken for spring...jusy lovely!
Just absolutely lovely - makes me homesick. I'm from Hickory, but lived in Waynesville for a few years while my husband got his master's degree at Western (Cullowhee!) & I worked in Asheville.
Now I want to see this place in reality. The poem is beautiful.
Love the way this line rolls off the tongue,
"the little frogs
chorusing cullowheecullowhee, Cherokeeshivaree down by
the rain-swollen Tuckasee-gee,"
Perfect!
There's a website called Tapestry of Bronze and last year they had a competition to write a poem about Demeter. This would have been a worthy contender!
Thank you all so much. I needed this boost big-time!
Amy and Lyn, and the Bug, good to have you here--Bug, you are a homegirl! Angie, steviewren, and Peter, I so appreciate your comments. I'll be dropping by your places over the next few days.
April is National Poetry Month. Let's celebrate like April Fools! No, no dogfood in the cereal bowl, as our daughter pulled on us years ago.....
Lovely. I've always loved Demeter's story; you should write a sad one when she is leaving in the Autumn/Beginning of Winter
fabulous piece...loved it!
Such a joy to read this poem aloud again and again. I am here via willow from Life at Willow Manor. Very glad I stopped by ... think I'll sign up for more.
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