From my writing seat
the window frames the
tableau of yellow leaves
the wisteria
has met with Autumn
too early this year
Did I not water
one crucial day when
wind plucked the water
as surely as sun
drying out the leaves
killing them too soon
Today that same wind
plucks them from the vine
to lie in yellow
drifts upon the ground
the devastation
plucks at my heart too
Do those leaves accuse
me for lack of care
plants grown in a pot
need more vigilance
did I then fail them
like Gaza’s children
Plucked from life too soon
all because Zion
“is mowing the grass”
arms makers making
money from the war
leaders not leading
Have we the people
seeing the tableau
of all the fallen
done enough for those
unlucky to be born
trapped in a pot
They did not choose to
be born in a land
others had decided
they could not share with
had to have it all
to be safe from death
Children of Gaza
lie countless as my
wisteria leaves
accusing me of
not raising my voice
sufficiently yet…
© Andrew Wilson, 2024
Previous poems of protest and images generated in Midjourney…
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Laura Bloomsbury in Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft, marks the birthday of American poet Sam Hamill (1943-2018) of whom she says “Hamill’s poetry is absent on rhyme and heavy on unadulterated lyricism. He talks his poetry to the page as here in “After Morning Rain” which switches between his personal loci and wider, world issues […] Hamill was a poet both in the world and of the world, being the leading light for ‘Poets Against the War’ and still his poetry does not stray far from what he sees, feels and knows directly”.
Laura also asks us to write in the poetry form ‘The Tableau’ created by Emily Romano in 2008:
Poetry Style:
- 1 or more verses
- 6 lines per verse
- 5 beats/syllables per line
Poetry Rules:
no rhyme scheme
title should contain the word ‘tableau’
poem should aim to be pictorial