L'aura del Campo

Cucumber. Dispelling the darkness.

Cucumber

A straight six inches,
hard and thick,
hope for the matron,
a maiden's love-stick.

Steaming in sun,
yet juicy and cool,
a smile from the knowing,
a grin from the fool.

Grasp its slick form;
lop off bumps and pricks.
Suck it (first peel it);
take all bit by bit

or slice it for salad,
servings for six.

© Kåre Enga [164.144] 07-07-19

(Written last week, but guess what showed up in the kitchen at Indy Inc. today instead of bananas! My own cucumber plants are still alive but not well.)

IMAGES:

... depend on where you are and when ...

brown spotted sycamore leaves; pea flowers of the pagoda tree strewn across the sidewalk; doves; a black Lotus (Elise).

... two years ago I would've noticed the pagoda flowers more; this year ... the flickers.

Dispelling the darkness

Brown dots the field of daisy yellow;
pink hibiscus pales, bigger than plates.
One firefly at the end of its season
blinks to soft sursurrations
in a mid-summer flight.
I glide past the pines
that don't know they're dying,
pick my way over bark
and dark broken bricks.
I follow my shadow
cast by the lamplight
in air that moves slowly
to clear night sky rhythms
written by stars hanging out in the south.
I whirl beneath this pinwheel of glory,
bow to a moon that waxes applause.

© Kåre Enga [164.138] 07-07-20

(Tweaked from images climbing the hill to buy my copy of you-know-what.)

THOUGHTS:

Endings are important. In real life we seldom know the motivations of others or 'the rest of the story' and in the tales of V.I. Warshawsky written by Sarah Paretsky this is key to a sense that the world that V.I. the private investigator touches has existed before her and will continue after.

In the world of Hogwarts and Hagrids, however, it was essential that questions be answered and I believe that J.K. Rowling did that effectively. I was pleased that the characters were not flat and that the essential rôles of Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, the Malfoys and Neville Longbottom were fleshed out.

I finished the long read on Sunday at 4:35 pm. I am glad there is no need for a sequel or prequel. (As a Hufflepuff, I wouldn't want more.)

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