An old poem of mine from
Phoenix : University of Sydney Writers’Journal 2007
© Julie Thorndyke
poetry
The Last Day Before Snow
This evocative photograph is the cover of a new collaborative tanka project by innovative tanka poet Carmel Summers.
The last day before snow is a ground-breaking anthology of responsive poetry.
One tanka…how many possibilities?
Each burnished leaf
does a tree notice
when each burnished leaf falls?
all around me
the world carries on
. . . as if you weren’t gone
© Julie Thorndyke
first published Eucalypt 15 2013
Gemstones
![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000039_00058]](https://juliethorndyke.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/gemstones-option-1.jpg?w=406&h=600)
So happy to be one of the poets Anne Benjamin invited to write with her in this new collaborative tanka project, along with Jan Foster, Claire Everett, Marilyn Humbert, Patrica Prime, Luminita Suse and Carmel Summers. The mystical cover image is by Luminta Suse.
one candle lit
to warm my small world
… in each corner
benign shadows soften
the edges of heartbreak
© Julie Thorndyke Gemstones p.49
Gemstones: collaborative tanka by Anne Benjamin and friends.
Skylark Publishing, 2016.
ISBN-13: 978-1530574889
Available via Amazon
Hands
My father’s hands were strong and silent
capable, restless, methodical, worn.
Missing the tip of a digit or two;
able to mend shoes, carve the weekend roast,
mow lawns, grow vegetables
give out hymn books, shake hands after church,
make piles of the collection-plate coins
lay carpet, fix the car, drive to music lessons
make a new key to wind up my toy train.
His hands could claim me if the surf were too wild;
were strong to carry this broken-legged child
put metho on mozzie bites, dab soap on my nose
clap hands for the babies, and cheer when they smiled.
In this noisy shouting world with strident voices cluttered
hear the quiet words of love my father’s hands have uttered.
© Julie Thorndyke
Recently in Ribbons and Gusts
Sotto Voce
white on white
a snow-bound cottage
framed by bare trees
those elusive shadows hold
echoes of you and me
indigo
for the darker moments
when sunrise
is too far distant
for comfort
bold red to hold
an abstract canvas
in the eye—
the tricks we learn
to survive this life
a swirl
of ocean blue—
in the midst
of our turbulence,
the red flag of desire
colour and line
define our world—
we capture
one moment, and seek
to unlock eternity
an arc of blue
cuts this corner of canvas—
always the detail,
the sotto voce
that enthralls me
© Julie Thorndyke
12 July, 2015, Muse Gallery Cafe
First published in Ribbons 11(3) Fall 2105 p.53
Sadly, Muse Gallery and Cafe have closed their doors for the time being.Let’s hope that it won’t be a permanent decision. I enjoyed viewing the work of our local artists, and appreciated the impetus they provided for this tanka sequence.
A luminous painting in the gallery also prompted this tanka, that appeared in Gusts 22 Fall/Winter 2015 p.8:
pale leaves
dripping with light
the gentleness
of our first touch,
your fingers on my neck
© Julie Thorndyke
Sometimes
Sometimes
I feel that I understand nothing
sometimes
I hold the key to the universe
sometimes
I roar like a lion
sometimes
I run like a mouse
sometimes
the tide is way, way out
sometimes
the beach holds the full sea
sometimes
my faith is a tall tree
sometimes
an un-germinated seed
but always
You.
© Julie Thorndyke
first published in Studio : a journal of christians writing Number 103, 2006.
Fleur-de-lis
Fleur-de-lis
Lemon tree, bumble-bee, lavender, sage
a pair of brown hunting dogs led by a page;
sunshine and winter fields covered in snow
these are the pictures my needle will show.
Turquoise and amethyst, bright emerald green
quilting a carriage cloth fit for a queen.
Filigree, fleur-de-lis, deep royal blue
doves in the dove-cote and fire in the flue
powdered wig, dance a jig, minstrels will bow
out in her play-farm the queen milks a cow.
Turquoise and amethyst, bright emerald green
quilting a carriage cloth fit for a queen.
Peacocks, white stallions, shy deer at the stream
pale silk like cobwebs embroiders my dream.
Pricking my finger in haste as I lean
close to the rush-light and sew the fine seam
red blood drops freely across my fine art
even my needle has changed to a dart.
Out in the square, see the tri-colour wave
these steady stitches shall keep my heart brave.
Turquoise and amethyst, bright emerald green
stitching a carriage cloth fit for a queen.
Wheels over cobblestones, hear the crowd cheer
blades, fine as diamonds, her neck will soon wear
peer through the window, the black-hoods are seen
raising a guillotine fit for a queen.
© Julie Thorndyke
I was fortunate to have this poem published in The School Magazine, Touchdown, October 2012. It was a great thrill to be published in a magazine I had read as a child, and in which so many wonderful writers have been represented.
The first draft of the Fleur-de-lis was written all in a rush one Easter. My family and I were at the beach for the weekend. It was a happy family time, but during all the walking, swimming and eating, there was a rhythm and a single line of poetry going around in my head: “quilting a carriage cloth fit for a queen”. This line became a repetitive element holding the poem together. The words evolved, fused with images of bright jewel colours and rich tapestry work. In a sort of poetic trance, I found a quiet moment and managed to scribble the lines down.
I was studying in the Master of Creative Writing program at The University of Sydney that year. I used this poem as part of my poetry portfolio, and read it at the end of year soirée. The rhythm and rhyme make it a good piece to present to an audience.
I hope the poem Fleur-de-lis will stir your senses and conjure up vivid images in your imagination.
Happy World Poetry Day! And congratulations The School Magazine on one hundred wonderful years.
Milking Time
On a ship again, this time
the rocking makes the red gunshot
crevices in my torso quake and sting
with every pitch and dive. Seabirds
hover, like the maggies on the farm—
is it milking time?
The salt-harsh taste of bully beef,
the tepid tea, the damper bread—
in my mind’s eye, I see the flush
of mother’s cheek, as she pours out broth
and settles the little ones to their tea.
Is it past milking time?
Dusk, and in the greying sky
I hear an echo of the galah’s cry.
The cows will be coming up the hill
to stand in the yard, calm and still
with udders full and eyes soft brown—
They know it’s milking time.
Behind closed lids, I long to see the rush
of creamy white fall to the pail. But all
that comes is crimson rain that falls
and pools and comes again. I never thought
that Daisy’s teat would hold a memory so sweet
and make me long for milking time.
Young Bill, my brother still in school,
has risen early, retired late. He fights
his battle in the muddy paddocks of home.
Double milking, morning and night,
until I am home to do my share.
It is long past milking time.
© Julie Thorndyke
Ringing Out the Year
scented candles
every summer evening
the small ghost
of my little terrier
walking with us at dusk
this old sadness
at the dying Christmas bush
once again
I must write my
way through transition
cicadas
ringing out the year
one last
loving cup
before sunset
© Julie Thorndyke
Julie Anne Thorndyke 