APRIL IS THE CRUELLEST MONTH?
(If only I could speak to you T.S. Elliot)
What ails you to write that "APRIL IS THE CRUELLEST MONTH"?
while new life unfolds from the dark winters stark harshness?...
Were you blinded from your sadness of deep roots within your past?
The thoughts of a re-awakening from an emotional hibernation?
Or is it in jest from a misunderstanding behind that hidden mask?
Uncoded speech, or letting go behind tears of an awakening in Aprils glow?
Hidden secrets of a frozen past, now melting in the springs sunshine air?
while caught in a landslide of dreams, uncovering yesteryear's stark reality.
The buried gravestones like hidden confusions left within your own melody.
Nature recovers from the experiences of transformation within each seasons.
Surely within recently thawed soil are hopes planted of fresh new beginnings?
See the miracles of life as the past is put to rest and fantasies give new growth.
fulfilling ambitions with quiet control, even though the wind blows its April cold.
Look around, "April is not the cruelest month", everything comes alive once more,
Take off that mask of yours that blinded you and confused your sad wintery soul,
celebrate life springing from the disillusionment as it opens up its new doors,
Look down at the blanket of color from which scattered seeds share hidden dreams,
as they reach out to touch the sky in their beauty while colouring barren thoughts.
April is leading to May in an explosion of a finer day of warmth and summer haze.
The start of easter, signs of re-birth, newborn thoughts and opportunities breeze..
Open your eyes to expectations of new life being born as it is now more than a wish,
watch flowers come to alive and the fields carpeted green, as new born lambs play.
The rain cleanses the earth from the hardness and soften it to encourage birth,
while the sun warms the soil so that nature can nurture the seeds to feed the earth.
Let hearts rejoice in tune of an awakening birdsong and be patient of better days,
before in the coldness of January commit to your saying of which I disagree that ..............
"APRIL IS THE CRUELLEST MONTH"
©Sue Bennetton April 2015.
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
April is Lovely, Sweet and Red
'April is the cruelest month’
The Poet quoted…
May be my mate is in true love
And his beloved is not near
Solitude takes its toll
When you are in love
Nesting birds and their chirps
Sunlit branches share its promises
Gardeners are ready to sow
Daffodils are dreaming about their glow
May be the scenes of spring and life
Has made the poet a bit restless
Ha! Poets live seasons
They have every right to quote
……………………………………………………………..
In a far off land, here in my place
I borrow his quote on ‘April’
The Sun become merciless
Sending waves of heat that burn
Piercing the fields with his rays hot
Like what a ploughmen do
Drying up the wells and ponds
Men, dogs and birds suffer
And seek for a hideout cool
Wild fire span on the mountains far
To glow like golden rivers in the night
Here summer engrave a perfect poetry with ease
I shall repeat the words of my mate
But the Lord is kind
Mangoes, Jack fruit and cashew
Just get ripe in the summer
Ah! The beautiful Gulmohar
Give shades to a poet like a beloved near
With her lovely umbrella red
Copyright : Gopakumar Radhakrishnan, India
3/4/2015
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Ode in jest to Elliot –T.S.
“April’s the cruellest month”
Or so Poet T.S. Elliot wrote.
What displeasure was in his mind
To make him think it is so?
Were I to sit beside this man
I’d tell him “look again”
See April in a different way
Through these eyes of mine
I’d take him to my garden
Point out nodding daffodils
That herald Easter’s story
Christ’s risen rebirth foretold
I’d show him tree buds bursting
Tempting wakening bees to work
Pollinating fruit promised flowers
Bringing life upon wintry earth
I’d place seed into his hands
Encourage him to plant and sow
Autumn’s bountiful harvest
That through the summer grows
I’d take his hand and lead him
Barefoot o’er dew laden grass
Step damp midst diamond droplets
Glint sparkly bright in morning mist
I’d whisper him soft “listen close”
To bird song rising with the sun.
Sweet calls of couples mating
Building nest to house their young
I’d urge, feel this glory about you.
Open your mind to all around
Look to your heart – answer me honest
Is April really the cruellest month?
© Miss Annie Christopher April 2015
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
Locked Out
Arriving at the school one day,
all our class was shocked.
When we tried the classroom door
we found that it was locked.
A note was pinned for all to see
written out in red.
Our teacher must have stuck it there
and this is what it said:
‘I’ve never known such pupils,
they really are the best.
They always get the highest marks
in every single test.
They never ever mess around,
they’re tidy and they’re neat.
To stand in front and teach them all
was certainly a treat.
But now I’ve shut the classroom
and here’s the reason why –
to say they should be studying
would only be a lie.
Instead, they need a day of rest,
a visit to the zoo.
I'm sure that they know so much more
than I will ever do.’
At first we gave a happy cheer
but then the bubble burst
for underneath, the date was there.
It was April the first.
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The sentences which we had read
were just an April Fool.
We didn’t have a holiday,
we had to stay at school.
We might not be too clever
but one thing’s very clear,
we’ve learnt our lesson very well.
We won’t get caught next year.
From: 'Funny School Poems' by Martin Pierce
Kindle author page
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
APRIL
April is the cruelest month - raining
Teasing us with rays of sun - shining
Bringing forth plants of Spring -weeding
Birds that spread the word by - seeding
Farmers in their fields of rye - ploughing
Furrows for their seedlings now - hoeing
Soon to offer up their bounty - growing
Followed by a spread for plenty - showing
As the blue skies appear - heavenly
A warm yellow sun shines brightly
All new life is starting - expectantly
Whilst we all relax and trust - stupidly
Down come the rains - teaming
Lashings winds now - storming
Damage done she creeps away - yawning
Making room for blossoming May - dawning
Patricia Taylor
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
APRIL – CRUEL OR KIND?
“April is the cruellest month”
Is a T.S.Eliot quote –
It could be right, it could be wrong,
Like most things that he wrote….
April is the door to Summer,
Sometimes open, sometimes closed –
It plays so many tricks with us,
We are quite discomposed….
Sometimes that door stands open and
The sun is shining through;
It’s fooling us that Summer’s here,
It tempts us what to do:
To dress up in our Summer clothes,
To rush out, to be bold,
But there’ll be a North wind blowing,
‘Twill still be freezing cold…..
Sometimes it’s open just a crack,
We can see it’s cloudy, grey –
That tells us Summer’s not here yet,
‘Though it may be on its way…
Sometimes it stays quite firmly shut,
Through the window we see snow –
To the question, “Is Summer here yet ?”,
The answer will be, “No”…..
Sometimes that door’s half-open,
Or maybe it’s half-shut ?? –
We do not know quite what to do –
It is the cruellest cut……
But then one day it’s open wide,
The sun is warm and bright,
There is no wind, the sky is blue,
Summer’s here at last – all right !!
©Rob Bury – April 2015
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
April is the cruellest month
April’s here and hope springs eternal that
we can throw off our fossilised oppressors
and end our perpetual morbid refrain:
‘Sabah al-noor, sabah al-zift,
morning of light, morning of waste’:
mourning as we are our lost loved ones
slain in the clash of sectarian hatreds.
This Arab spring has turned to shitta
and it’s all that we can to do
to survive the onslaught of winter
in these war-ravaged and bitter lands,
where a vegetable seller self-immolates
to make a last defiant, poignant, stand.
Because this Spring we thought we’d ended
the dictatorial, bloated and ossified coelacanth,
only to find that April is the cruellest month.
Francis Owtram, Bournemouth, April 2015
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
April and my Plastic Sunflowers
The four plastic sunflowers in my bedroomThe way they swayed in the ceiling fan’s air
Were the functional-year-long-April for me.
Fallen twigs of meditating winter
And the deadwood sanity of their roughness;
The begging deserts of the patient summer
And the coarseness of their ravaged mirages;
The thin tune of the nostalgic autumn
And the restlessness of their alcoholic breezes;
Were never like fresh seasonal fruits to me
For I had the functional-year-long-April in my bedroom:
Those four plastic sunflowers.
My newly married and divorced wife
Ended the perpetual April in my room
By demanding those yellow sunflowers
In the package of reparation.
It was four seasons ago and the spring of April
Now seems to be a creepy plastic serpent
Irresistibly insidious in its illusory cruelty
as my new girl friend from the same city
Talked of bringing new plastic flowers in my room.
By Sonnet Mondal
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
April is the Cruelest Month
Fall in April
Falling through memories of my life as they pass my eyes
Screaming out my soul and loud my heart cries
Words that forecast my demise cannot not be taken back
Tell me friend, does Fall in Fall frighten you?
The sun has come at last to play with shadows and light
That give texture to our days, no longer long the night
Darkness is being chased away, see the darling buds of May
Tell me friend, does Fall in April frighten you?
Look now around regard the blooms that herald life, not decay
Birds are nesting ready for life in the eggs they lay
Not no renewed life ahead for me this year
Tell me friend, does Fall in April frighten you?
Embracing life won't cease though strength is dimmed
Tending garden will be still my love, colours riot untrimmed
My soul weeps to know I might not see fruit born
Tell me friend, does Fall in April frighten you?
Flowers that jostle for attention, blooms both bright and subtle
Will outlive my journey on this earth, travels I would glad redouble
Trees will grow and bear their fruit which may I live to taste
Tell me friend, does Fall in April frighten you?
I will continue to shine as the sun, glow like the moon and stars
My smile will still embrace the world it will never stray afar
From my lips, though sadness may occasion my eyes to tears
Tell me friend, does Fall in April frighten you?
Love will be my gift to those who walk my way wherever it leads
My heart will still hold close those I treasure and need
Still yearn for love's secrets shared, the bond unsaid
Tell me friend, does Fall in April frighten you
Chrissie Morris Brady
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
OPUS
A breeze flirts in blossom trees
As iridescent kisses on confetti
Shower and renew the April hues.
In primrose, crocus and daffodil
A patchwork parasol of nature spilt
Masks the last of Winter.
The open telegram of bird song
Greets a fresh coat of scenery
Less muted than it used to be.
And creation awakes
On wings of Admirals and Painted Ladies,
As the opus soars from behind a veil.
©Kim West 2014
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
So long I have waited
So long I have waited,
For the sky to come alive.
For it has played tricks with my mind.
To finally see the light,
I can rid myself of memories,
From the seeds sowed in the shadows of grey.
It has been a long time waiting for the turmoil to end.
To finally find peace in the calm of the sky,
To feel the warm whisper of the sun on my cheeks,
Is like a kiss from an angel.
Who from heaven is having a peek.
This wonderful world is about to bloom,
It shows me a way out of the gloom.
You make me wake from a sad lonely slumber,
so to me April you are a wonder.
Pauline Price
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall