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a piacere

 

 

 

if I’m a garden
through which you could walk,
undo your feet, and look
with my eyes

stretch out long on the grass,
your head between the fire
and the calla lilies
in the warm vase
of my belly

lift up your face, and say nothing.


mostly it’s like the arch of sky above
where there’s space

for petals to call their song,
and the song to fly, free
like prayer flags,

a string of colour-stories
with the breath of four winds
in between

that loosens the leaves of my hair
and covers my face
with kisses,

without questioning,
without asking

 

 

 

 

 

Author notes

a piacere = freedom in performance

In a list

A contest entry

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Comments

1 - 56 of 56

  • Swan song gold member
    March 31, 2008

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    Oh my this was an awesome write!!!!! Sensual and loving.
    You are a master at putting such beauty into nature


  • SerenityNChains gold member
    February 25, 2008

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    This holds such sensuality, without being "erotic, explicit". It is the soft whispers of the heart when their lovers cups their face inside tender hands. This is so soft and sweet. I am sure it was penned in the gentle cumulus of heaven.

    Blessed be,
    Billie Jean

  • mimiagatha
    February 3, 2008
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    oh, but you are a garden, girl, a garden of poetry


  • Heath Thompson
    February 1, 2008
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    I love reading Pablo Neruda. Now I love reading you. I don't need to say anymore


  • Dienush
    February 1, 2008

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    This is such an inspired idea, to see yourself as a garden... a spring of life where your loved one can rejoice. It's a sweet poem, and the ending is just perfect.


  • ellipsist
    January 22, 2008

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    absolutely breath-taking imagery... such a tranquil feel and delicate flow... beautiful wording and metaphor... it inspires such amazing and lovely visions...

    this is incredible, poet!

  • Shannon
    January 20, 2008

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    oh wow! "A string of color-stories" that's fantastic! I love this piece. Reminds me of an adult version of "The Secret Garden." There are many takes on the "garden" and I imagine it would be quite hard to make it new, avoid too much cliche, but you did that here, I think---there's an air of newness and it was a pleasure to read. In fact, I think that since I will be lacking intimacy for ages now it seems, I think all I'll have to do is read your poetry and imagine myself there--lol you write so beautifully about love and longing.


  • Grateful
    January 19, 2008

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    if I’m a garden
    through which you could walk,
    undo your feet, and look
    with my eyes

    starting lines are just beautiful...great imagery...i really enjoyed this poem...thank you for sharing such a wonderful poem...sukhdarshan


  • narcissist
    January 16, 2008

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    beautifully worded! the imagery is spectacular, it actually made me feel calmer and the way it folds you into the experience like cloud fog is wonderful. "serene" comes to mind. such a nice change of pace in what's spread through out the site.


  • LalaLisa
    January 16, 2008

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    Amazing

    great wor kNicolette i could fel the intense iamgery and warm setting you protrayed
    great work
    God bless


  • zappa gold member
    January 15, 2008

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    Love grows where my Rosemary goes....hmm that's already a song but I get that feeling when I read your write. It's a frolic of a piece filled with many living things. I like the metaphoric entities. I can't grasp such love though...I'm a little burnt but it feels good to read others' emotions.


  • Mallig gold member
    January 15, 2008

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    This is so beautiful! Incredibly romantic and so richly, colorfully envisioned... Congratulations on silver!

  • tara wilson gold member
    January 15, 2008
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    congrats, Nic!


  • IrishYndina
    January 15, 2008

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    *sigh* You know, I love the metaphor of you as a garden. Superb, and the imagery of the vase of your stomach took my breath away. This almost feels like two parts, two separate thoughs, with a break between "say nothing" and "mostly it's like the arch" - I wonder if some sort of separation would help the flow. A part I and part II, maybe. Or even just indenting the entire second part. It works now, and still flows wonderfully, but something like that would, I think, help accentuate the subtle differentness between the two parts instead of trying to disguise them into one piece. Does that make any sense? lol, sometimes I reread what I've written and laugh at my own attempts to explain my feeble impressions of poetry.

    By the way, I just got "fire lily" in the mail, and I can't wait to have time to sit down and admire it fully.

  • Virgoan
    January 15, 2008

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    I like the sound of this piece and how it captivates the reader one step at a time like music trance.

    Excellent piece.

    Thanks for sharing and keep writing.

    HENSLEY a.k.a VIRGOAN


  • Athena of Starlite
    January 14, 2008
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    Wouldn't it be great if guys could write this kind of thing?


    • Nicolette gold member
      January 15, 2008
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      Yeah indeed ! Perhaps there are a few romantic guys out there, somewhere Thanks so much!


  • Utok Bulinaw
    January 14, 2008
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  • tanzanite
    January 14, 2008

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    This is a sigh of words designed to leave its reader in a swoon for weeks. I loved the simplicity, the fantastic sensuality and the spirituality you combined in this piece. In Song of Songs the male praises his lover for being a sweetly scented garden. You have taken that and turned it into a combination of many religious and spiritual practices (the prayer flags/ bags of many colours). Sex and spirit go together and woman is the climax of creation ...

    You wrote a piece of art here in simple hushed tones ...

    Fantastic!!!


  • just rob gold member
    January 14, 2008
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    Ahhhhhhhhh

  • Rowan gold member
    January 14, 2008

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    awww.. 'warm vase of my belly' sigh...
    I felt this one in every corner of my soul, so beautiful, and the imagery is perfect for Zayras contest.


    • Nicolette gold member
      January 14, 2008
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      I knew you would feel this one, Kathleen... thanks, dear


  • michael thomas
    January 14, 2008

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    Nicolette,
    The beauty of your poetry is it's simplicity that masks the way you use words with magic. Very lovely poem that you have created here.


  • Mad Moon silver member
    January 13, 2008

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    Wiping the tears from my eyes....such beauty here. Speechless, and reaching for another tissue!! Words will do this no justice, dear one. It is beyond them. Brava!


  • leander Moderators member
    January 13, 2008

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    Aah... Reading this poem reminds me of those beautiful holiday I had in 2006 to the South of How I long for summer, and this beautiful piece is like a nice prelude to it


    • Nicolette gold member
      January 13, 2008
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      And it's summer here too. Hey, you two still need to come this way... thanks, leander


      • leander Moderators member
        January 13, 2008
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        I know, South Africa seems the ultimate place to go on vacation


  • Ladybug
    January 13, 2008

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    good rhythm and form of a free-verse
    enticing and exubarant

    let the pen trickle till it flows out of ink

    Tamara


  • kaibab silver member
    January 13, 2008

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    Such a beautiful poem of hopes and gardens....elegant as always and art for certain...just lovely friend...


  • Asfand
    January 13, 2008

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    succulent like the morning sigh, that ends with an applause like the sotmr of thunder. the dew is glistening on this tulip, the petals dip

    and i have tripped

    stubling to understand



    • Nicolette gold member
      January 13, 2008
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      Asfand...great to see you again. thank you so much... I think you understand poetry so very well!!


  • misselaineous
    January 13, 2008
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    beautiful writing
    soft, sensual, superb


  • IronIcecream
    January 13, 2008

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    calla lilies - warm vase of my belly

    I always compared a woman's reproductive organs with an orchid

    maybe that's why women intuitively love flowers
    I'm not trying to explain anything
    a poem is scentless
    and like any other orchid
    it has color
    shape and a subtle calling for form




  • le soir
    January 13, 2008
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    -


  • PageTurner
    January 13, 2008

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    You enchant me with your soulful, sensual, sounds.
    It's always a joy to join you in your garden, m'lady
    I was enthralled by this avant-garde performance...


    "without questioning,
    without asking"

    Magnifique, Maestro!

    ~ Nicky♥

  • tara wilson gold member
    January 13, 2008

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    sighs....pure poetry, this is so gorgeous Nic!!

    "a string of colour-stories
    with the breath of four winds
    in between

    that loosens the leaves of my hair
    and covers my face
    with kisses,"...love this imagery so much...beautiful poetry..


  • Cat gold member
    January 12, 2008
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    nic,

    this is truly just a lovely write-


    m


  • Namita
    January 12, 2008
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    your

    poetry

    is

    god


  • Heart Sutra
    January 12, 2008

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    This is BEAUTIFUL as ever. Your voice is so amazingly romantic...you are the goddess of all goddesses....the mother of all, the lover too....just amazing the spirit that speaks through your work. I love the images of leaves in hair and the prayer flags.


  • voices
    January 12, 2008

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    possibly the most beautiful piece i have ever read here. the soft tone whispers, the scent of sensuality is sublime.


  • Malabu
    January 12, 2008

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    without question...you simply take my breath away...and perhaps I could be that fifth wind...combing your garden...with eyes open admiring the beauty abound....
    sigh~~
    Mal


    • Nicolette gold member
      January 13, 2008
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      "the fifth wind"...love that one, Mal - thanks, my friend

  • Yvette Champ gold member
    January 12, 2008

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    Freedom in performance : the poetess affords the reader to fly as free as the prayer flags with the performance of her penmanship and the mandate of the contest ~ it is waiting in the garden ~ is written within, it needs no name, it only needs to be felt and oh, the sweetness of the feeling. For me, this is the garden of Eden that is found within the natural connection between nature and human nature, a sigh of naturalness and whenever calla lilies are mentioned I think of the poetess herself.As ever, I feel inadequate to even comment whilst at the same time feeling satiated by your poetry, the gentleness, the tenderness, the inherent beauty and the budding growth are all glowing within, you show time and again that pure poetry could be written in the sand, in the snow, as graffitti on a wall but always, always it would remain the purest of poetry.As much as the word is inadequate and rarely used by myself, this is awesome.


  • CarolDesjarlais silver member
    January 12, 2008
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    The most evocative, beautifully sensual poem I have ever read. What divinity in this. Bravo!


  • arafura gold member
    January 12, 2008

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    gardens of delight...

    This is simply beautiful! I love the flow and the 'feel' and the wonderful imagery that transported me to a 'garden of delight'... Wonderful! Good luck in the contest!

  • grm
    January 12, 2008

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    lovely sentiments, amazing visuals (imagery), the metaphor of being a garden...
    all add up to what?

    why, pure poetry, of course.
    i think i love the second stanza most of all, but the entire piece sings to me

    thanks so much for entering

  • Bob Fox
    January 12, 2008
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    And the beauty

    Leaves one breathless. the talent abounds & I do so get just a little jealous


  • poetryality silver member
    January 12, 2008

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    Such soft sentiments written here my sister/friend. I love the word "calla lilies" and hear American actor, Audrey Hepburn, every time I hear or see the word written. What a splendid walk this would be. I know that for sure! ~Sigh The best to you in Zayra's contest.


    Much Love & Many Blessings ♥

    Renee


  • Night Hope gold member
    January 12, 2008

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    {weeps ever so quietly, completely undone by this loveliness}


  • AJ Morelli gold member
    January 12, 2008
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    i agree, this is wonderful Nic...


    al


  • Peteskid gold member
    January 12, 2008
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    a poem the reader can simply feel...wonderful...PK


  • new light
    January 12, 2008

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    im am truly breathless.
    this is so beautiful..
    i can feel the emotion.. the freedom..

    its great

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