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Seeds for the Fire Bushes

 Sharing with The Sunday Muse #261, for our final week. Thank you for reading & interacting with these poems over the past several years. 



Cold blood works the fire bushes: 
marble, serpent, maybe. 
Snakehearted limestone gathers a full bouquet. 
Line the tables, cook the feast over the flowers,
Hang the bottles from the marble bodies.
Gods are sporting tonight;
Dancing under the empty jars
Eyes clear as the darkness,
Deep as the heavens.
Hang bottles to catch the sparks,
Bottles to cast from the shore
Already burning from their nearness.
Bottles to kindle a thousand
Epics, hearts, madnesses, parties...
Bottles to seed the fire bushes
On some colder, newer shore.

I'm not sure whether I'll be returning to weekly poetry for the time being. I might turn this blog to reading to inspires me to get through a grim and treacherous TBR that seems to swell with books that aren't quite read, even if bookmarks appear in their shallows. From June through September I'm going to be doing an Indie Summer to read indie & self-pubbed books (including comics, poetry, etc.) and writing two novellas to celebrate a summer adventure that will mostly be literary. That'll be tracked here, as may be the novella inspired by this pic:

It'll be a cheerful story of a space squid, the make-up counter nemesis, and dead department stores. This story has been in the works for a while but seems to be put off once summer ends (I'm far more of a mood writer than a writer. I may just be a mood with a notebook.)  

I've enjoyed getting the chance to read everyone's poems each week and will miss that going forward. If you're going to a new site, let me know so that I can follow your blog that way (if that's okay) and let me know if there's anything I should add to my summer TBR. Thank you for being a poetry community. Thank you for stretching my own creativity. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for being a constant inspiration to do better, read more deeply, and think more widely...or at least try to remember some of my college reading. 

Best wishes for your writing going forward and for you, personally, wherever this finds you.

-- Chrissa

Comments

  1. JimMay 27, 2023 at 7:55 PM

    You can write once a month or so, stay in practice. Do like I try to do, take a Sabattical. Generally though I end up sneaking in a write or two. I've started with dVerse and will stay with Friday Writings. I also do an alphabet meme on my other blog Fridays, not poems, and write at least one post a year on "ask Dr. Jim (blog)", a Q and A problem solving and/or helping, tongue in cheek most times. Dear Abby.
    I'll look for you, you write well, or look me up if and when you start again.
    ..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sherry Blue SkyMay 27, 2023 at 10:23 PM

    Chrissa, i would miss your poems. Thanks for your work at The Muse.

    ReplyDelete
  3. qbitMay 28, 2023 at 5:39 AM

    So many great images in that, but this especially for me: "Line the tables, cook the feast over the flowers" as if the flowers were indeed the flames that we need to feed our souls. Going to miss your incredible poems. Don't be a stranger.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Carrie BurttMay 28, 2023 at 9:01 AM

    "Hang bottles to catch the sparks" I adore that and the feel of this story poem Chrissa. Thank you for being an amazing creator and part of this site my friend! Your poetry and presence has been a true inspiration! I look forward to the story and love the image that has sparked your story to life. Keep writing because your poetry is truly amazing!!! Never forget that 💫✍️🤩

    ReplyDelete
  5. HelenMay 28, 2023 at 11:53 AM

    Dear Chrissa, your last poem is a beauty. I especially enjoyed how the punctuation made it even more powerful / meaningful. Farewell for now, know I will continue catching up with you here, there, everywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  6. TruedessaJune 2, 2023 at 6:12 PM

    Thank you for all your support over the years! Best of luck to you in your writing and reading endeavors.

    ReplyDelete

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