This is before or after
whichever you like best
or maybe it’s that precise moment
when the umbilical cord was cut,
for some it was before,
for a mother it was after.
Just like summer’s both an end
and a beginning.
Look at a box of crayons
See how green and blues are gone and
only yellow, red and orange’s left.
That’s when summer stumbles
and the fall begin.
You mumble moon again
and gold’s replaced with silver
shivers, rain and snow.
That’s how!
an end, begins again.
A field of yellow flowers by Vincent van Gogh
Inspired by the poem You Begin by Margret Atwood I wrote this for Poetic Bloomings.
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July 5, 2016
Björn Rudbergs writings 
💙
You captured the spirit of this so well, Bjorn. Endings are the new beginnings. And it always returns to where it starts. Thanks for joining our poetic garden! Walt.
I like trying to decipher your words. They are understandable as Engkish, but you put them together in unexpected ways. Like where “for some it is before, and for the mother it us after” I like to mull that over and think of who comes before the umbilical cord is cut. And I almost typed umbilical chord…and that sets my mind off on a new enchanting tangent. Ahh, the mind is a wonderous thing!
Can you believe I missed that typo on my read through? I meant English, of course. Typing on phone with one eye closed while child pesters me from the doorway. Parenting is the curse of pure expression.
One of the advantages of writing in your second language is that I sometimes can have a double poetic license.
Summer is a beginning and an end – lovely words, as always.
What a neat way to use Atwood’s inspiration. I love this ending and beginning…
you write in the language of poets with lines that most of us struggle to find like looking for the hot reds in the box of crayons and ‘That’s when summer stumbles
and the fall begin…”
Wonderful take on the Atwood poem. And thox of crayons image…perfect. a wonderful tone to this.
The opening gave me chills, Bjorn. Really, this would make a superb micro-poem:
“This is before or after
whichever you like best”
I can imagine worlds of relationship tumbling out of this alone. I picture a couple that falls in and out of each other again and again, lifetime after lifetime.
And as for autumn, it’s mention has me chomping at the bit to get rid of summer.
Hey, wouldn’t silver glitter-leaves be pretty … especially catching moonlight?
That box of crayons–what a perfect analogy for the changing seasons. I love how you “see” things with the poet’s eye of yours.
Very nicely done. It almost feels mystical.
I could admire Van Gogh and poetry all day!
I loved the ending …. and it made me go back to the beginning and read it all over again 🙂
Well hello there! So nice to see you at Poetic Bloomings! Love this take on the prompt, and look forward to seeing more of you in the garden.
I enjoyed following this word trail that leads to a fresh – or, at least, long ignored – perspective.