“In the Sweet Alone” by Karen Kelsay
by admin | 4.07.10Sitting cross-legged beneath the cherry tree,
wearing her mother’s seed pearl necklace
and a sprig of jasmine on her bodice—
she offers blossoms to a gravestone.
The gilt and gold of late afternoon washes
through shadows. It’s springtime. Unripened
fruit hangs like quiet temple bells between
flowering cylinders of white, and brides
with dark branches. Somewhere in the sweet alone,
silence caps hilltops and pirouettes across
the tree line, as rows of giant hyssop rise
like spindles from the whorl of earth,
ready to trumpet the black of evening.
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For Karen’s bio and another of her contest entries, go here.
*Contest entry*
April 11th, 2010 at 8:50 am
Karen, this one paints a portrait for me–in oils.
“The gilt and gold of late afternoon / Washes through shadows.” Very interesting line, with various visual and emotional layers.