Nicole Callräm is a diplomat and poet. All she writes describes her personal point of view and in no way represents the official position of her dear government (especially on matters of love and life). Currently stationed in Shanghai, she finds this land of beauty and history to be endlessly inspirational. Her muses are dreams…and the flowering streets of this city.

 

willow

 

endless stretching toward water

 

hair moving in the breeze

 

disarming me

 

undressing the wind

and my stunned soul

 

music of jewels

are the staccato of rain on soil

leaf upon jade leaf

 

I love you

your vulnerability

 

this canal is fish scales in sunlight

 

and you

you gesture

after its movement

as though to stop the stream’s departure

as though you had something to lose

 

weeping

 

separation

single green soul

 

I too

know how to move

at the mercy

of heartache’s cruel flow

 

~

 

how to understand the world

 

copper leafed

fingers

rock a dirt cradle

……………..thick with blue flowers

………until buttercup pistils nap in sun.

 

I am shadow

………moss on stone

 

how am I to understand this world?

 

each tree is meditating

………petals—

………errant thoughts

………fluttering

………across pure

………blue consciousness

 

vines whisper

 

oh, sweet rot and earth

………how am I to understand this world?

 

green is inadequate

 

it’s like saying freckle

to describe the one thousand ways

light touches

your body

 

if there is a god

………may I leave life

………as this forest

as

………………shards of seafoam

………………dancing through honey

 

~

 

kikuzakura

 

the flowering tree in my garden is sublime

every flushed bough

one thousand pinched cheeks

countless kissed lips

……..sensual pink goddess

 

I wonder how it feels to be impeccable–

 

I’ve asked so many times

sitting in her perfumed

air

 

the only answer:

…………leaves in wind

 

at sunset by my bedroom window

130 impossible petals pressed against glass

 

I am wishing that life were this simple

 

that I knew when to bud and when to blossom

that I knew when I was at my peak

and everything I had to offer were self-evident

 

no one questions the intentions of a Sakura blossom in spring

(except for me)

 

I wonder what she feels tonight

each perfect

rose cup

overflowing

with liquid moonlight

 

does she ask what this all means?

 

does she see me watching her?

 

do her leaves hurt and sap rush when I read her this love poem?

 

when I sleep with her flowers scattered through my hair

does she dream of me?