Northern hemisphere folks in my experience are apt to forget their current time and season are totally opposite to our current time and season in the southern hemisphere…even those of us aware of this dichotomy can find it pretty weird!
NB: Please view this on my Blog and not in Reader (for proper formatting)
Time in Two Hemispheres
——
Up There, in the Northern Hemisphere
Time trickles through the Hourglass
You’re falling into Fall
Days are shorter
Longer nights
Less Light
Less time
Less
is
More
More time
More Light
Shorter nights
Days are longer
Roots are reaching
Buds are breaking
Blossoms making
Scents awaking
Spring has sprung
Down Here, in the Southern Hemisphere
Poem written by Liz; Exploring Colour (2018)
Photos: The first photo is one that Nigel took of a spur-of-the-moment natural artwork he did in autumn 2017 at the Dunedin Botanic Gardens which I posted about in Art in Autumn : Designing With Leaves
The second photo – I took this Thursday in the late afternoon. When we moved here in February I wondered what these clipped trees were. Turned out they’re camellias and looking very pretty now they’re in flower 🙂
Acknowledgement: Thank you Damien B. Donnelly for sparking my new-found interest in poetry; you’ve inspired me to have a go!
Damien is currently publishing a “Journeys” series of poems and I’ve particularly enjoyed the following:
I really like your poem Liz. I am happy at this time to be in the bottom part of the hourglass ☺
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Thank you Carol! Its wonderful to be enjoying spring at last 🙂
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I’m smiling too 🙂
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Bravo! For your poetry and for highlighting the southern seasons!
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That bought a big smile to my face! Thanks so much 🙂
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It is lovely, Liz, both the composition and the arrangement. Thank you for thinking of us as autumn and winter are approaching. I hope your spring will be wonderful.
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Thank you so much Tanja! And spring is shaping up really well at present 🙂
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I am glad to hear it, Liz. 🌸
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I love the poem and must admit that I am guilty of forgetting about the opposite seasons in “your” hemisphere.
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I’m glad you loved the poem Mike and thank you. Its my version of a foray into creativity 🙂
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Love the photo and the poem. When I visited NZ , I was aware that the seasons would be opposite of Canada’s and I knew you drove on the opposite side of the road, etc. But what I had never thought about was the sun moving through the sky the opposite way. I was sitting in a yard and thinking that I didn’t have to worry because I would soon be in the shade of a tree as the sun moved. After a bit I was still in the sun. I looked up and realized the sun was moving away from the tree and I was on the wrong side if I wanted shade. haha.
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Hahaha, that’s so funny! I love hearing about your “opposites” and I’m collecting these things into a little cubby-hole in my mind. They might re-emerge some day in a poem 😉
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Yes, I tuck things in a variety on notebooks to use in poems, fiction or creative nonfiction pieces. 🙂 Happy Spring 🌱to you as we move into Autumn 🍂 here.
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Both seasons are colourful and such a joy! 🙂
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“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” – Robert Frost. You have done just that, beautifully! Thank-you for sharing your poem and the lovely photos.
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Oh that is awesome Ellen! Thank you so much! Big hugs, Liz xx
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That’s a lovely poem, Liz, cleverly constructed, and I enjoyed the sensation of falling and rising. Those camellias were a lucky inheritance!
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I’m so glad you enjoyed the poem Jane! I’m excited that spring has arrived and the camellias are definitely a bonus!
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I am re-blogging you, hope you don’t mind.
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Delighted! Thank you so much, I’ve just put a response on your reblog 🙂
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Well Liz, I think you might have to admit, even yourself, you are indeed becoming a poet. This is a wonderful fall through time, literally I can see the north, slipping down the rabbit hole and popping his head out in the south. There is such a delightful balance to the scheme of this poem. While reading this poem, the image of how a sewing machine works came in to my head; the needle takes the thread down into the machine, it catches on the lower bobbin of thread, loops through and pulls back up and on each side of the fabric an equal stitch is made but each in reverse, each in its own time, each nothing without the other, a little how inspiration works and we do seem to inspire. Thank you for sharing. Have a wonderful weekend with the buds and their blossoms.
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On the third day of trying I was thinking about 2 hemispheres and the hourglass came to mind. From there I was amazed how quickly it came together! I did have lines re Through the looking glass, Down here in The Antipathies but the poem was bottom-heavy and I had to remove them. I love your analogy of the sewing machine, such a beautiful thing to see and share! Thank you Dami, perhaps you can go and kick up a storm in the fallen leaves but I suspect its too early in the season!
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Summer is hanging on till the very end, I think it will be a clash of the seasons when fall finally attempts to take its claim!!! 🤪
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Lovely poem. Enjoy spring, and the longer days. You can feel sorry for us, who will be facing winter in a couple of months.
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I’ll definitely think of you Candice! But no doubt you’ll have a wonderful autumn to enjoy before then 🙂
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We do forget, and the world media is very Northern hemicentric, isn’t it? I love your clever layout and your apt words.
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Very northern hemicentric Ali, yes! Enough to ALMOST make me forget what season I’m actually in! Thank you for your lovely comment and I love the word hemicentric…wonderful 🙂
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I like how the style of the poems looks! Great idea! Just like nature.
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Thanks Pepix! I got such a lot of pleasure out of being able to produce this 🙂
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Yes, I believe that 🙂 That’s great artwork!
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Thank you!! 🙂
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Very nice! I enjoy the “shape” aspect of the poem, too. In college, I think they called this “concrete poetry,” but somehow that doesn’t seem like the right term for a poem about change! We are headed into Fall, here in the northeast U.S., still in the high 80’s (F.) next week, but sunset is definitely coming sooner every day. 😦
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Damien’s blog was the first blog I found and followed on WP, and he was doing a series called “Colour on Curt Corners”. That was the first I knew of concrete poetry! He did a particularly fine “shape” poem at https://deuxiemepeau.blog/2017/05/26/colour-on-curt-corners-part-7-our-shade-in-time/ where the text mirrors the front outline of the dress. I was so wow-ed by that!
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Wonderful, Liz! You’ve captured the essence of the opposites, which sure is easy to forget is going on. As we feel fall approaching here it’s nice to be reminded you are heading into spring, my favorite time of year.
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Thanks so much Ellen! Its wonderful to leave winter behind, it feels like the world is coming alive again 🙂
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