Thursday, April 10, 2008

Project Yellow: Take Three - The Flowers of the Field

The Flowers of the Field
The flowers of the field
are but lonely stems
That wear pretty hats
to keep the sun from
reaching their slender souls.
When I took this picture and especially after downloading it the above poem came into my mind. I wrote that poem years ago in college. It was chosen by one of my English professors to include in the college literary magazine. I was honored and humbled to be included.
Fast forward a year and my roommate at the time had to take an English Lit class. It turned out her professor was using the previous year's literary magazine to teach poetry. She (Mary) came back from class one day and told me I wouldn't believe what the professor had said about my poem. It turns out he thought the poem was unique. Ok, he's getting points right off the bat! But wait, he says the flowers aren't the thing on top - what? He continued to say the poet was putting up a good front and could be too fragile inside. Points all lost - out the window they went. I was furious.
I had sat on my parent's front porch, my legs stretched out and feet firmly planted on the porch banister - pen and paper in hand. Looking out at the wide open hillside in front of me and my Mom's flowers in the yard, I penned a little short poem about the makeup of flowers. I looked at the stem, the flower and what it looked like, threw in a few poetic type words, voila - a poem.
What did I get for this - a room full of students,who either knew me or could easily find me, thinking I was some kind of fragile being holding it all inside! I would of confronted him; but there weren't that many English professors on campus at what was primarily an engineering school. I knew I just might need a class he taught. So, I let it go; but it still haunts me all these years later.
Everything we write is subject to interpretation. Those interpretations are as numbered and varied as the people who read what we write. But....he was so far off the mark!!
Remember to check Anna's for more Project Yellow participants!

22 comments:

Janice Thomson said...

I thought it was kind of neat myself - but as you say it's just one person's interpretation! So nice to see beautiful daffy's in your wonderful photo Carletta.

b13 said...

LOL We have the same thought patterns ;)

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

the happy-hued daffodils can cheer me up any day!!!! :) and i love that you are playing "mellow yellow" on your blog ...fun project!!!! :)

Lilli & Nevada said...

Beautiful flowers, love daffodils

Anonymous said...

the flow of thoughts didn't look forced nor was it too hackneyed. it is promising :)

Arlene,
Bainbridge Island florist

Tom said...

Personally I thought it a great poem.. and I'm not trying to score points here.. I do not write poems but read many... I have collections in folders for future use and I've been know to drop them in with my comments.. I would be pleased to have this in my flower folder.
A prefer to like things for what they are, I don't go digging into hidden meanings.. I very rarely find things of interest there.

Anyway Carletta... the 'Daffs' are stunning.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Carletta: Great minds run in similar directions with differing results. Love your flowers, music and poem, check out mine.

Anonymous said...

I knew you had to be a poetress ... only a gentle soul could take such photos.

dot said...

I think it's a beautiful poem and picture also. Some people just try to dissect every thing.

judi/Gmj said...

Okay now you made me giggle. Well put and much gentler than my "kiss my grits" style of writing! :)
And I love you yellow.

Paulie said...

Daffodils are a sure sign of spring! The poem was lovely too. Come and see my yellow post.

Anonymous said...

Well, what you wrote was beautiful. I fully expected to see some famous long-dead person's name attributed to it! So I'm impressed! My favorite color is yellow, by the way. Second is red. Put them both together and I'm happy. Thanks for sharing your inner thoughts. I like to "get to know" the bloggers I read on a continuing basis.
Brenda

Texas Travelers said...

Beautiful flowers.
Beautiful yellow.
Beautiful poem.

Yeah for you.
Pooh for the prof.

Great project yellow posts.

I just did my first yellow , come visit and tell me what you think.

Rose said...

Carletta, I always have wondered how teachers/professors really knew what authors were thinking when they wrote things. You are living proof that they don't!

I just now finally got up some new yellow pics...I don't know if it was what you said in your post or what but I thought of bonnets when I came across the picture of a daffodil I put in today. Just made me think of my mom when she was working in the garden--she almost always wore a bonnet.

maryt/theteach said...

Great Project Yellow photo! Glad you liked mine! Your poem is lovely too! :D

Cris said...

What a lovely poem and beautiful picture. This project is bringing back sweet memories and the best in all of us I believe. Have a great day!

carmilevy said...

I think it's only natural for people to misread the words we write. Writing for a wider audience reminds me of the game of broken telephone: everyone's going to hear, think and say something different.

But I console myself with the thought that at least they're reading, at least I'm connecting, and agree/disagree, get it/miss the point entirely, they were part of my world of words even for a short while.

That, in and of itself, is comforting.

I, for one, love the pic, and love the sentiment behind the poem. The joy of blogging about it is you get as many chances as you wish to interactively connect with the audience. How cool is that!

George Townboy said...

I love it!! And the photo. He was definitely way off the mark, but like you said, our words are open to interpretation. I'm cognizant of that when I write what little I do ... I live in fear of misinterpretation!!!

However, I think you do a wonderful job interpreting what I write, lol!!

Debbie said...

Carletta, me with trees today and you with flowers. Basically the same message :)

I loved your poem. Simple and easy for me to interpret my way!

Flowers are gorgeous and I need to find new words to describe your photos as they are all perfect in my eyes! :)

Anonymous said...

Interesting aside to go with a lovely poem; and a timely reminder of the power of words.

Daffodils are such happy flowers--you've captured that perfectly!

(And I've got another yellow post up myself!)

:)

Anna said...

Daffodils sure are popular on Project Yellow! I love them and they always make me smile! I am glad you are still enjoying it!

photowannabe said...

Love the daffodils and your entire post. You have a way with words.
Thanks for visiting my blog and your kind words at a difficult time. Its most appreciated.