Saturday, November 13, 2010

A Pear's Lament & 55/365


A Pear's Lament
by Margaret Bednar

Succulent honey-sweetened fruit
Elongated body, global curve
Namesake of bishops and of saints
Aphrodite's prize, honored gift to kings

Of pure white blossomed tree, and
Remotest Chinese antiquity
High esteem too swiftly ripens
Usurped by distant cousin, short and stout

"Unfairly pruned" the laments
Family squabbling doeth begins
"Johnny Chapman desired my name
Earth's gift to Zeus's bride, and curer, I

Of same rose ancestry
Skin of grit versus shiny and smooth
Farmermarket ratings pronounce
"Statistics are out; Apples float, pears sink"



This was my attempt to have a structured consonant count for each line in each paragraph.  (7,9, 8, 10) The silly idea came to me as I was strolling around the farmers market and all the fruits and vegetables seemed to be competing with one another.  I read up on the history of the pear and apples and their place in mythology and folklore.  I hope you enjoyed the silliness. I hope it made sense!  (I have paintings of a pear and apples on my other blog.  Click HERE if you want to see them)

5 comments:

Justine said...

I love your pears and your poem and these beautiful barrels of apples, they look so tasty.

Carol Blackburn said...

Very nicely done, Margaret. Love the pear shot inparticular......

Margaret said...

My son just pointed out my counting was off... LOL. I am going to try again with making all lines 10 syllables.

Ruth said...

What a great final line! This was nicely rendered, what an interesting thing to think of, these fruits competing.

Margaret said...

Ruth, your encouragement means a lot. Thank you.