a late summer walk
around the lake near Nemi
stumbling in the woods
hidden in the woods
late sweet strawberries still grow
– among dead leaves
hand in hand watching
the flight of a falcon high
– searching for a mouse
smell the humid leaves
rain likes to be remembered –
rich earthy perfume
gloaming of the eve
red reflections on the lake
– thirty years ago
(c) G.sk. ’14
Written for Heeding Haiku with Ha from Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie
Nice one… And where did that picture come from?
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The picture came with HA’s prompt 🙂 nice isn’t it?
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It’s quite haunting, I think
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I love how you pictured Nemi: the lake, the strawberries, the woods; your beautiful words well expressed the magic of Nemi.:)
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Thanks … have you ever been there?
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Oh, yes , many times as I live in Rome and Nemi is not very far. In spring Nemi is particulary popular as people go there to enjoy the first strawberries which are usually served with whipped cream. 🙂
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I used to live first in Genzano and then Albano … how small the world is … we loved to go to Nemi as well, of course .. great strawberries!
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So you used to live ” ai Castelli Romani”:) Beutiful places not too far from the big city ! 🙂
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Not at all … used to work down in Rome … commuted 5 days a week from Albano to Rome …. many years ago. One of my sons still lives there with his wife and 3 children, so I come down every once in a while .. usually spring now days.
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The best time of the year 🙂 !!!
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It really is, though if I didn’t have impegni, autumn isn’t half bad!
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This year autumn has not started yet. Today it seems August and people still crowd the beaches. These are the famous “ottobrate romane”, as it happens to have beautiful, warm weather in October here ( but not so hot, this is unusual) . 🙂
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So I heard from my son and it’s warmer than usual here too but after the wet cold summer we had up here in the north, I’m enjoying the warm fairly dry autumn … although one worries about the winter … It’s been a strange year weather wise, that’s for sure!
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There was a lake near my grandmother’s house when I was growing up. Later it was filled in to make way for a housing development. How appropriate that picture is to how the greedy, soulless corporations and their puppets treat the world.
http://poetryofthenetherworld.blogspot.com/2014/10/octpowrimo-2014-day-19.html
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Darn … they do things like that and then when problems pop up, everyone looks so surprised … thanks for sharing this and I’m glad you enjoyed the poems.
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Beautiful .That too in haiku form!
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Yep … haiku to be sure!
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I don’t normally do well with haiku, but I really enjoyed this 🙂
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I can’t imagine why not, you write very well.
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Absolutely beautiful.
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Thanks Laura!
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You reminded me of a crater lake we visited last year in Arizona. And introduced me to Nemi.
Some of my relatives hail from the north and south… but not the center.
I was so close… about 15 years ago when I was visiting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiuggi
Only about an hour away…
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Ah … didn’t know your family hailed from Italy! Nemi is tiny and very beautiful. The other more famous lake nearby is Albano (the town of Castel Gandolfo where the pope has his summer home over-looks it). Odd to learn about Nemi in Arizona!
Fiuggi is a great place, I’ve been there a couple of times, years ago. Perhaps you’ll be able to return and see them both! 🙂
Tell you something about why Italy is always rocking and rolling .. half the place is built on volcanos (either dormant or extinct).
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I’m not in Arizona now. I was last year. I’m in Pennsylvania. My heritage is from both North and South. Second and Third generation. Hubby hails from several European countries, but not Italy.
I only learned about Nemi from you but it reminded me of the volcanic lake in AZ. 🙂 Sorry if I didn’t make that clear.
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Oh … I understood you weren’t in Arizona, know you live not far from Jen in fact … I thought you’d heard about Nemi before you’d read my poem and from your trip to AZ no less … ah … old age you know. I hale from Austria and Germany – on both sides … but have lived in Northern and Central Italy (From Savona to Mantua to Rome to Tuscany and now in Trentino) I’ve never been to Austria (though I’m not far from its borders) and been only for a brief visit twice to Germany … Crazy no?
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My one Grandfather who lived in NYC, waited until after he retired (after Grandma passed) to come back to the NY/NJ area to finally visit the Statue of Liberty – he’d never been.
When there is so much going on around you, sometimes you ignore the touristy stuff just to avoid the crowds. 🙂
I think our children visited more of our own local sites via school programs than I have.
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I understand your Grandfather and you … and most of the Romans I know do too … here we’re surrounded (literally) with so much to see, that we often don’t see it at all. I started really looking at where I live thanks to a blog post called Tourist in My Own Town … a photography prompt and I tell you that’s when I started to see what i have right here under my nose. 🙂
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I like the small historical sites, off season. We get quite a bit of good weather tourists in our area. While we do not have the ancient wonders, as we are only hundreds, not thousands of years old – we do have some nice places and museums to visit.
Just last year my hubby and I visited an early settler place called Hans Herr House:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Herr_House
http://www.hansherr.org/Home/Herr_House
They also added a Native Peoples long house on the property last year.
http://www.hansherr.org/Home/Longhouse/FAQ
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Sounds like fascinating places … and I’m off now for a tour … (thanks for the links!)
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This puts me in mind of Walt Whitman. Love the imagery.
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Cool ..
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Oh, what a great series! And yet each haiku stands beautifully on its own — just magnificent. 🙂
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Thanks .. the strawberry haiku here was what I wrote for the CDHK special before I read the consignment closely … at which point I did the haiku and haiga about the honeysuckle 😉
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Such beautiful imagery!
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Thanks!
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The images yet again come alive in your words and make me yearn to be there, experiencing it all.
The memories of a beautiful trip are always endearing. Sometimes, I just close my eyes and revisit the top of the light house we visited last year… and that is a different sensation: a dull ache with a sweet smile of reminiscence. 🙂
I loved the painting… and I liked how you paired it with your series. 🙂
-HA
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Thanks HA … memories are the poets currency I think … I’m very happy you enjoyed the post and the painting … it was lovely to be able to share my memories with you … and would love to be on top of a light house … that must have been a splendid sensation! 🙂
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