[poem] Black Roses I Remember, Andoy Castellano, 19 August 2006

Black Roses I Remember
Andoy Castellano, 19 August 2006

I remember
Roses are black though others are of a color
wild roses, innards of meaningless thought
from alleys smoky in air-vented steam
glorifying mist but emptiness of color
rising to forever but clouding the words
of instructions and directions
Digression in another media of stilled figures
Dark memories I gather
With roses gone
Weeds

Red roses of vague time and memory
from borrowed being
Drying to wind-blown rained-out gutted charred dust
fading from red to black

Chinese tea I serve in momoriam steep slowly
like walking past walls with picture-frames
passing one by one ominously tortously slow
like petals floating in the garden pond

Rose petals floating on shadow screen
like the brown-dark tea dregs
staining fragile porcelain of untarnished white
bone china
Hard words as I had always known

Iron floating butterfly mobile
hanging side by side with wind chimes
taunting teasing daring forgetfulness
like an opium haze

Though remembrance remains as roses stand on
vases green poised on every visible corner
of the round-eye world
Of roses black roses
Now only these
I remember

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The original poem was written June 1, 1986. This is part of a series
of Roses poems. I might not post all of them. I edited and cleaned
it up somewhat. Still too verbose I think. Maybe I can re-edit it
sometime soon. In another twenty years maybe.

----
--andoy
19 August 2006