Black Oaks

By Mary Oliver

Okay, not one can write a symphony, or a dictionary,

or even a letter to an old friend, full of remembrance
and comfort.

Not one can manage a single sound though the blue jays
carp and whistle all day in the branches, without
the push of the wind.

But to tell the truth after a while I'm pale with longing
for their thick bodies ruckled with lichen

and you can't keep me from the woods, from the tonnage

of their shoulders, and their shining green hair.

Today is a day like any other: twenty-four hours, a
little sunshine, a little rain.

Listen, says ambition, nervously shifting her weight from
one boot to another -- why don't you get going?

For there I am, in the mossy shadows, under the trees.

And to tell the truth I don't want to let go of the wrists
of idleness, I don't want to sell my life for money,

I don't even want to come in out of the rain.

Comments : Thanks to S for pointing me to this site.
Liked this poem for the imagery of the woods, and silent black oaks contrasted with noisy blue jays. But most of all, for these lines, ‘Listen, says ambition, nervously shifting her weight from one boot to another -- why don't you get going ? ’ - Zen

An ode to Sorpotel

By Philip Furtado

For the hotchpotch known as haggis
Let Scotchmen yearn or yell;
On the taste of Yorkshire pudding
Let the English fondly dwell
Their famed tandoori chicken
Let Punjabis praise like hell
But for us who hail from Goa
There's naught like SORPOTEL !

From the big wigs in Colaba,
to the small fry in Cavel
From the growing tribes in Bandra,
to the remnants in Parel.
From the lovely girls in Glaxo,
to the boys in Burma Shell
There's no Goan whose mouth won't water,
when you talk of SORPOTEL!

And oh, for Christmas dinner
Don't you think it would be swell
If, thanks, to a freak of fortune
Or by some magic spell,
We could as they can in Goa
Have a bottle of cajel
And toddy-leavened sannam
To go with SORPOTEL !

Comments : I liked the first paragraph of the poem. Also the random place which led me to it - for some reason, this poem is on the official Konkan Railway website.

Note : Cajel refers to a distilled liquor made of cashew and toddy is fermented coconut or palm juice, which is frequently used like yeast to make sannas, a type of rice cakes made in moulds with a batter of ground rice, toddy, coconut and sugar and then steamed.