I gave you more than the one-day-pretty
of morning glories fluttering
along a fence:
the reckless red of poppies that hovers
above spring, became yours too; the sudden
yellow of happiness, and jasmine stars,
too bright to flee the daylight
I write you every flying flower I am and was, also
those still at rest, and clap a paper net
over the butterflies of moments and years:
the small
and beautiful;
the immortal and beyond
even when on your fingertips the dust
of flight settled and died, and your hands
carry the forget-me-nots of my closed over wings
Author notes
"one-day-pretty" is a direct translation from the Afrikaans word "eendagmooi", one of the Afrikaans names for a morning glory. The other names are "purperwinde" - which means "purple winds" and "blou trompettertjies" which means "small blue trumpets".
In a list
A contest entry
- PIF - Metaphor Mania!!! (Prompt) by Mad Moon.
600 points, ended September 8, 2007, 13 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 51 of 51
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"the sudden
yellow of happiness, and jasmine stars," so delicate and charming.
"and clap a paper net
over the butterflies of moments and years: "
very vivid. I like the metaphor you've created.
your writing has a calm and intriguing quality to it. I feel as though I could read poems such as this over and over and never tire of them.
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very beautiful write
I can see why you won - this is exceptional. That's a lovely image of the butterfly net clapped over time. -
Wow. A great piece you have here...and I see that it won gold. I especially liked the use of flowers in this piece...which you gave new meanings to. A great job. A great, great, great job.
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you deserved the gold it was woonderfuly written great work
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sometimes the abundance of metaphors spoils a poem, losing the thread that holds the beginning to the end. but you kept it on line here and gave the readers a wonderful display of imageries.
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This was definately a gold poem.I loved the longing and sadness woven into this.I love forget me nots .Wildflowers are the best.Lovely work from a talented artist.
Helen
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when we can't possibly think of what to write as none of it may seem adequate, here you bring us flowers in words that we can't compare possibly to our own, time and again.
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congrats Nicolette! I love this poem, and I am so happy you got gold for it
I wish I could applaud again and again
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I am left speechless by this gorgeous piece of word art. It is absolutely fabulous! Expert use of ALL poetic devices. Drenched in brilliant imagery, and well-penned words. I am left without words to express the boundless beauty I see in this! This one will sit in my heart for quite some time after reading. Well Done! Thanks for your entry, and Good Luck!
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Blue morning glories used to grow on a chicken wire fence around our vegetable garden and up the trunk of a lucust tree when I was a child, exquisite cornucopias spilling cerulean summer. One day pretty lasts such a long time, for it clings and climbs the trellises of one's memory:
the small
and beautiful;
the immortal and beyond
You cocoon such incredible words in your paper net--translucent rice paper origami, fragile and gossamer. And I can smell the jasmine scented air.
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Thank you, dear Karen for the lovely comment and the gentle beauty of your words
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Absolutely-Beautiful
I really Loved This Poem, Nicolette!!! Very Pretty..I Was With you, All the Way.beautiful,As Always'...'God Bless '.Love, Shirley shaw, from raytown,mo....
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longlasting
What I liked about this, is the metaphors pertaining to the longevity of your devotion. The hues of love and it's seasons. Excellent.
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purple winds...
Beautiful... there is something about reading this work that reminds me of viewing a Van Gogh painting, so vivid with colors is the imagery!
Excellent! Good luck in the contest!
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This is an excellent piece
David
by the way - Australian for "morning glory" is boner
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Thanks, David.. is that really what you Ausies call a "morning glory"?
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So very light hearted, there is something wonderful about flowers that open themselves up to onlookers in the morning and then closes when dusk arrives, much like a lovers arms.
very exquisite.
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i siad it and i will say it again, you are a great teacher, not only your poems are so deep, and beautiful, but you gave us something new to add to our vocabulary. thank you for explaining these words, and i will remember them.
great write. good luck in the contest
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Your poetry full of amazing metaphors is like a dream, all almost impossible becomes reality. Your gift is to write and to share love and poetry with all of us. Thank you for this poetic beauty.
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Your flowers...your words...your heart all bloom with the same intensity, the same utter beauty, that I often forget to inhale the pollen of them all till my eyes reach the very last syllabyl. Alas, I leave you breathless and blue. I can only wish to write as lovely, but am twice blessed for having read these words.
Love and light my sister,
Billie Jean
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ahh yes... morning glory... it can be translated into several images, not all prettypretty, right girl...
i hear your quiet heartbeat here Nicci ... and it saddens me that the morning glory is all but gone apart from memories
pick up girl, cut some fresh flowers and learn how to inhale
you are ...... beautiful
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Thanks, Gill....sometimes we forget that we are flowers...
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You write about your language Afrikaans like no one else...then you write about flowers as if you speak the language of flowers and the rest of us are only stuttering.
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beautiful ending... perfect...
all throughout the poem there was kind of a sad sense of longing... kind of an unrequited feel and that final stanza summed it up brilliantly!
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Wow, I'm in love with your words here, Nicolette. This is so poetic and even extreme in a very beautiful way. Very romantic too. I'm not sure what "morning glory" means though I can assume, but "one-day-pretty" sounds very poetic. You'll need to teach me to write great happy love poems one day, lol.
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Always elegance stirring the amazing confrontation of love and abandonment.....you are such a beautiful person...and this is such a beautiful poem
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I have heard those Afrikaan words before, you write them with a meaning and a purpose I feel they are meant for, the simple beauty you see everyday. Love, C
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Dearest poetess,that you have used metaphor majestically,maginificently and with such intrinsic depths did not just cause my eyes to mist over,as often happens reading your beautiful poetry,but I burst into tears,for you portray more than a picture within the mind's eye,you allow the words to transmit from heartspace to heartspace.There is always a safety net within reading your astounding penmanship for each wounded feeling is held aloft and beautified,yes that's it,you convey something beatific.You even added your own reverence to yellow by colouring that burst of happiness,you used the over-used butterfly and let it have new life freed from your self it flutters by with all the natural delicacy of wing tipped touch.I love and appreciate the title,yes we gift ourselves and place on the mantle shelf of the heart those gifts which we are priceless and beyond compare.You are indeed a flower,a rare,beautiful,graceful flower exuding love and light.
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Yvette, you have a way to touch my heart that I can never explain in any metaphor... thank you, thank you...Now I feel like bursting into tears too for the way you touched my very essence....
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A one-day-pretty... have to look that one up cause I'm curious to see it's beauty...
and sigh... what a way with words you have...
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Thank you, my friend... what do you call morning glories in Dutch - something similar to Afrikaans?
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If I'm not mistaken, we call them 'Ochtenddauw'
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i remember a poem by Strawberry moon called " the space between us, a garden " i think this is the heart of these words. this space will always be fertile, with gifts and flowers.
touching and sad and yet as always elegant and beautiful.
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That is a beautiful line from her poem...and so very true. Thank you, bokkie...for your gifts too, and for all that will always be beautiful between us...
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You know, if I ever manage to be a muse, I bet you that I will be recalled as a weed. And not the type that Jamaicans like, and which have inspired some wonderful reggae and made Mantego Bay the only major beach resort I know that caters to both high-end tourists as well as the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Nope. I think I would be more of that annoying kind of weed you keep uprooting in your garden, and yet reappears only days later just where you were certain you eliminated it. I mean, I AM a guy after all... And that means really causing women grief. So yep, I'm a weed. The thorny type. Which likes attention and really, really annoys.
Seriously, I liked this poem for an honestly personal reason. Ages and ages ago, the VERY first poem I ever posted to AP was one in which like this, I used different flowers repeatedly as a form of metaphor. Except mine was a rhyming poem Having said that, though -- and for once this is a sincere, as opposed to joking -- nod to ego, I just like the fact you had the same idea to use the repeated metaphor for love. It's funny, I have begun to wonder if given how bright your outlook on life is, as reflected in your poetry, you can ever really compose a "dark" poem when attempting to do so. That's actually the highest compliment I can pay, because it has nothing to do with craftsmanship, but rather spirit. I recall that Rolling Stone Magazine once said one reason the Beatles were arguably the greatest and most adored band of all time, is because even when they wrote songs like "Eleanor Rigby" or "Revolution," you still smiled despite the message. To me, that's your poetry, and one of its greatest beauties, Nicolette. And just as Rolling Stone pointed out, it's a very, very good thing.
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Thank you, Monte. If they have a trophy here for commenting and the ability to read into the heart and essence of a poem, that trophy will definately be yours. I love using flowers as metaphors and being the timeless romantic I'll always equate love with a flower or a butterfly...even broken ones. This one is dark fringed with light, because butterflies don't bite - and that is my attempt at rhyme! Thank you once again...
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This is really annoying. I keep trying to "star" that genuinely lovely comment, and yet AP won't let me ... *glare* I think I may need to hack Kevin's html coding and add a command for "applaud and star Nicolette, and deduct points from Kevin."
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I think we need to have our 'girl' chats more often Nic!
I find them very inspirational and I love this poem SO much! This is filled with brilliant imagery and metaphor, and I feel strength in the voice of this poem, I can totally hear you, and I think this has lovely golden glitter all over it too, my friend!
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Thank you...unknowingly you inspired this one, Tara..
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It's an amazing poem, thanks!! lol
and there are so many men that would want to be your flowers, Nic...
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No one does flowers quite like you Nic, love the idea of a flower called a "one-day-pretty", this is so nice...
al
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This is so wonderful, and filled with your tender soulful feelings. Even in sorrow, your paintings are eloquent portraits of beauty...
"even when on your fingertips the dust
of flight settled and died, and your hands
carry the forget-me-nots of my closed over wings"
...sighhh!
Scented Sorrow, Scribe. Thank you for sharing.
~ Nicholas
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Beautifully sad. I love how you've entwined these lovely flowers into metaphor...it gives both beauty, and richness to your words.
I didn't realise the morning glory had so many names...they are all quite fitting
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"the small
and beautiful;
the immortal and beyond"
This stanza encompasses the majority of your writing to me, my dear Friend. Small, only because of the usual brevity of your writing. Beautiful, because you can do nothing else. Immortal & beyond, because you are & so shall remain. Sorrowful, because we love Neruda so...Incredibly penned, because it is you. Good luck in Mary's contest, Sweetie. Vlindertjie
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You know all about butterflies (vlinders).. their dust and their flight - how can I ever thank you for this lovely comment - and for so much more..
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This is beautiful and sad. All of this is wonderful but I loved this part:
I gave you more than the one-day-pretty
of morning glories fluttering
along a fence:
Such images here. Lovely work my friend. Congrats on yet another masterpiece.
~Lyrical
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I love it when I log in and see you've posted something..
not once have I been disappointed.
And this of course is no exception..
"I write you every flying flower I am and was, also
those still at rest, and clap a paper net
over the butterflies of moments and years"
breathtaking my friend..
so beautiful.
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This is absolutely beautiful Nic! Feels like you took me back to these moments with you.
"one-day-pretty" is a sad thought made wonderful by your words, and I love the idea of the 'paper net clapping'.
I love this!
Best wishes in the contest.
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Thank you, Stacey - seems as if we were reading each other's poems at the very same time!!
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Fantastic
Yayyy I am the first to comment. This is splendid, original and breathtaking as usual. You have the gift to take a metaphor and transform it into art. I love the images you conjured in my mind and the splashes of color you used. Wonderful work as always.
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Thank you, my friend - so good to hear from you again.'s from the rainbowland
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