Wednesday, January 12, 2011

A Flower Grows

A flower grows
Of tepid colouration
No one told it
That flowers should be bright.
A flower sprouts
At the base of a cloud
No one told it
Where flowers should bloom.
A flower plucks off its petals
To admire itself
No one told it
Its beauty is inside.
A flower dies
Of exposure
No one told it
To cover its little bud.

by Claudete Oduor.See more of her poetry here and her prose here

6 comments:

  1. Your poem is very succint Claudette. I want more because of the beauty and brevity of expression but at the same time I want you to say no more because I have much to chew on. This is a piece I will read over and over!

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  2. 'No one told it
    To cover its little bud.'

    that line brings me a baby girl in mind... well not baby a girl who reaches adolosence and for reasons like poor self worth and constant attempts to please the world which is full of people who really don't care
    she realise she has lost the IT she always had.

    I love your use of flower, you took a risky topic and still managed to dress it up it barely is recognizable.

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  3. I feel like you took me through a life's long maisha- from birth the moment we say 'breath the last' ---i do not know why i am more inclined to the woman and the flower- maybe its because of the social associations of women and flowers for a long time, or if its because women are simply beatuful--yes they are--but point is, with flower, you paint the picture of survival well!! I also do learn a lesson from your poetic playground with flowers-' that we shape our own destiny'-

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  4. A flower grows... This poem takes me through a whole metamorphosis.. round from conception all the way to death symbols of how we go through life oblivious of the obvious because no one told us.... Then we die inside

    "A flower dies
    Of exposure
    No one told it
    To cover its little bud."

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  5. I love the air of innocence in the poem. I agree with the comments on how it takes you through life in a flash. Good job dear, very eloquently put!

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  6. The poem ellicits the image of a child, naive and innocent, enjoying childhood then ghafla bin vuu, they are pubescent, unaware of the changes that have happened, oblivious of their effect on other people and out of this ignorance the child over indulges.
    showing off and enjoying the attention it gets from its external attributes until eventualy, the childs overindulgence/kujiwashiria ruins it.

    On personification, the flower is clearly used to personify a person, thats very clever. Chloe has taken the idea of personification and done a superb abra cadabra on it.

    I have nothing negative to say...great piece.

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