Saturday 16 August 2014

Some Plants Need Fire To Survive

image source here

Forest dies

The ash wasteland sighs

Forest fire’s nightmare still battering

The black muted pain gives off the odor of death

I am reminded of the adage

One’s loss is another’s

Obvious gain

 

Jack Pine waits

The fire-worshipper

For its deity to open up cones

To free the seeds like Sequoia’s or Manzanita’s

Only to confirm the adage that

One’s loss is another’s

Obvious gain

 

Mushroom clouds

Hover over ghost towns

Marauding aliens loot Baghdad

Dazed victim’s dead eyes vacantly search everywhere

The Dove for their offspring

I find Mother Courage*

Counting gains


image source here

 

*Bertolt Brecht’s immortal character in the play Mother Courage and Her Children who was blind to her loss and expected to thrive in Wars

 

Posted for Kerry’s hosting Sunday Mini-Challenge – Triquain @ Real Toads

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Shared with Poetry Pantry @ Poets United 

36 comments:

  1. Yes even in the fire there are the winners.. The parallel to Mother Courage so apt.. Scavengers exist everywhere -

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  2. We must find what winners we can, where we can.

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  3. Mankind will find a way to kill himself off. The planet and a few stray but hardy creatures will survive.

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  4. Harsh reality is becoming harsher by the day.

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  5. Natural disasters are often beneficial, if only wars would provide some benefits, but sadly I am old enough not to have ever seen any.

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  6. just recently i watched a documentary about growing shitake mushrooms - they're winners of a fire as well and grow on the burned trunks

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  7. Life and death in the events all around us, great write.

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  8. You set the scene so well, Sumana, and your recurring lines take on a chilling significance in the final stanza - how the world reels at such wholesale loss of life in war-torn regions in the last few months, a devastation far worse than that of the natural world.

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  9. Mother nature knows best ~ I like the refrain of:

    One’s loss is another’s
    Obvious gain

    Lovely work on the form Sumana ~

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  10. When fire rages and destroys forests and houses, it is hard to see that there may be a silver lining in this disaster.

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  11. This is a fascinating poem, Sumana. I had not heard of the play Mother Courage, so it was interesting to contemplate as related to your poem. Right now I do struggle to see what gains will come from all the losses in Baghdad (sigh)....but I do understand this concept as related to forests.

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  12. Perfect! ...and a good capture from Brecht.
    ZQ

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  13. There is always more than one way to look at something...and what you say in your poem is true.

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  14. I have to confess that I was unprepared for the arrival of the mushroom cloud...

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  15. Good poem Sumana. I haven't heard of that either, but what your words made me think of was how warriors really think there may be a gain from someone's loss. Sad.

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  16. Brecht is one of my heroes, and his Mother Courage makes me cry. It is a play I would love to direct--her joy in obvious contrast to her grief as she loses one son after another and a daughter, a daughter, oh! Your poem haunts me now. Thank you.

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    1. PS: I went to DC to see Kathleen Turner in Mother Courage earlier this year!

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  17. fires of regeneration, certainly are not fires of war and hatred, your poem speaks plainly.
    Thanks for stopping over at my blog

    much love...

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  18. This is beautifully crafted Sumana---and yes, chilling in the final stanza!

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  19. The Circle of Life demands death in order to bring rebirth... The cleansing powers of fire can never be denied. But gods, the burn still hurts so much...

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  20. 'Someone always counting gains' ~ would it be possible ever to move forward with no victims? who knows...~ Great civil poem!

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  21. Sumana,

    It is probably the very existence of life, which does require the burning of forests etc, to allow the continuation of life as we know it..A natural rebirth in time..

    Eileen

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  22. love how you've captured life and death in various forms.

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  23. Cannot imagine there are those who thrive in wars do so without conscience! Nicely Sumana!

    Hank

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  24. One's loss is certainly another's gain... in nature, and unfortunately, in war as well. I hear you.

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  25. Washington state, where I live, is currently plagued by wildfire...so your piece made me immediately think of that...scary stuff. Strong imagery here Sumana!

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  26. Brecht understood reality.People make fortunes out of war. That is one of the reasons we we always have them.

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  27. someone is winning, and it surely ain't us. thanks for this.

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  28. Forest fires are raging as I type this .. close enough that skies are muted by the smoke, mountains partially obscured. I enjoyed this ...

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  29. Powerful comparison - "one's loss is another's obvious gain."

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  30. This piece is vivid and powerful in equal proportions. Superb poetry. Loved this.

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  31. I appreciate that one's loss is another's gain in the natural world. I find that much more difficult in the geopolitical realm.

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  32. that last bit is quite heartbreaking...hopefully that is not the fire we need...in nature the fire often does bring life...but ....

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  33. woven well, especially for such a difficult image in the close ~

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  34. This is simply masterful, Sumana. You have articulated the horrors of war with such expressive clarity and strong images, that terror takes on a reality that, I think, often doesn't resonate with those so far removed from that hell - and burns like a wrathful flame.

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