I hope you’re enjoying these entries of Poetry on the Move poems. I love to see how each interprets the contest theme, “Invention.”
If you care to leave a comment, I know the poets would love hearing from you. Thanks for reading along~
Poetry on the Move is a project of the Santa Clara County Poet Laureate. All poems remain the property of the authors.
Sally Ashton
Santa Clara County Poet Laureate
* * *
Converted
Like an abbey of monks
hunched in work cells,
a huddle of believers
obsess over lines of
code.
Dry eyes gaze at
scrolling screens.
Iteration after iteration until
the powers deem it one point oh.
Lisa Liu
Saratoga
* * *
Silicon Valley
Gone are cherry and prune orchards
Silicon grows where farms were plenty
Farm machinery rusts under the Pacific sun
Wafers and chips now sell like apricots
Seed money is worth millions
The local farm stand is now a start-up
Markets now are global
Apples are products you can never eat
Denis Lynch
Campbell
* * *
In the Beginning
Creating something out of nothing—
like magic—is an illusion
of newness, while ghosts of
the original lurk in shadows
in the luminosity of new ideas:
New skin like new shoots reappear.
Embers glow rekindled. Words
scrabbled—bring new meaning.
Pushpa MacFarlane
San Jose
* * *
Art is jealous: it keeps me awake. Intent on making the summit before sunrise, I imagine watching the first light pearl along the ridge and silver the high valley lake. Thirst overtakes me. I shoo water-striders from the running brook and sip the cold; the top is within my grasp.
Patricia Machmiller
San Jose
* * *
The Birth of an Invention
Be it sudden inspiration
Or insight born from frustration
Ideas from either source
Can change history’s course
When fueled by imagination
Nancy Madison
Palo Alto
* * *
A Wonder
No tree so straight and leafless stood
beside this trail
the last time I passed by.
No spider ever spun a web
so long and strong
or hung it up so high.
It must be that the White Man came
and left it there
and me to wonder why.
Loren Meissner
San Jose
* * *
Seed
See the tiny seed
Oh Valley of Heart’s Delight
Water the future.
AkeemMostamandy
San Jose
* * *
Life’s Journey
Keep on going.
Going no matter what,
one step after the other.
Walking. Wandering.
Farther and farther,
leaving one home.
Reaching another one.
Jogging. Jarring.
Coming back again.
Someday. Someway.
Completing life’s circle.
Running. Racing.
Srivarsha Nandula
San Jose
* * *
My Writing Rock
My writing rock is my special place
Nestled in it, I create my space,
On it is where I belong
My thoughts surface, clear and strong.
Creaking windblown trees
Mockingbirds’ calls tease,
Staccato swoosh of the forest stream
All create the backdrop for my dream.
Susan Paluzzi
Cupertino
* * *
New Fruit
Programmers in cube farms toil
Pulling all-nighters, facing IPO’s, racing
To foreign fields, cross-pollinating
Crops of iPads, iPhones, interfacing.
Once orchards graced this fertile soil
Valley of our Hearts’ Delight.
Now webs of silicon we weave
Bursting forth from that first byte.
Natalie Panfili
Mountain View
Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Blog 