Poetry Friday & Important Voices

Spring’s Softness

Spring’s softness has settled in the city,
trees tenderness triumphs with new leaves.
Rivers of rivulets, feed meadows of
multi-colored crocuses that vanish–

Almost magically before our eyes.
Replenished with tulips, daffodils, and
lavender’s long-gone childhood memories,
bringing earth’s subtlety in our senses.

© 2017 Michelle Kogan

I wrote Spring’s Softness from a poem prompt by Rainer Maria Rilke. Heather Meloche  posted the poem along with selecting 10 words that we would incorporate into our new poem. The poem was posted in Laura Shovan’s continuing February Daily Poem Project.  

I’m sharing a portion of George Eliot’s poem More Roses. The poem is from a book I picked up last July at the Newberry Libraries summer book sale. Eliot wrote two books of poetry, and More Roses is from her poetry book, The Spanish Gypsy.  Her other poetry book is The Legend of the Jubal, and other poems. Here’s a link for a bit more bio on George Eliot

MORE ROSES

By George Eliot (aka or her real name Mary Ann Evans)

Hinda:
Queen, a branch of roses–
So sweet, you’ll love to smell them. “Twas the last.
I climbed the bank to get it before Tralla,
And slipped and scratched my arm. But I don’t
mind.
You love the roses–so do I. I wish
The sky would rain down roses, as they rain
From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?
Then all the valley would be pink and white
Ad soft to tread on. They would fall as light
As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be
Like sleeping and yet waking, all at once!
Over the sea, Queen, where we soon shall go,
Will it rain roses?

I was hoping to write  a poem in memory of Javier Valdez, the internationally known Mexican journalist and writer who was so ruthlessly taken from all of us this past week. As this didn’t happen yet, I’m sharing a quote and link to a news source from this last week. Sending my thoughts out to his family, friends and all who cared about his work, and the importance of continuing to speak out.

Quote by Javier Valdez
Living in Sinaloa is a threat, and being a journalist is an additional threat. We learned how to live in times when bullets are flying around us. You have to know the rules – how the gangs or police or a local politician here or there will respond to a certain story – but those rules can change quickly. These are impossible conditions in which to practice journalism.

from: euronews

News article: Mexican Drug trade reporter Javier Valdez killed–BBC News

Kiesha Shepard at Whispers from the Ridge is hosting this weeks Poetry Friday Roundup, thanks for hosting Kiesha! Be sure to drop by her blog for an interesting new book she just received, and  many more poems.