WHILE PLUM BLOSSOMS SWEEP DOWN LIKE SNOW
What you found was not what you sought.
What you loved was not what you thought.
White plum blossoms sweep down like snow
when it rains; the seasons don’t know
the names we use. I loved you then,
he said, meaning never again.
Plead with him all you want: he’s through.
Your turn to decide what to do.
Your turn to decide. What to do—
plead with him all you want; he’s through,
he said. Meaning, never again.
The names we used! I loved you then
when it rained. The seasons don’t know
white plum blossoms sweep down like snow.
What you loved was not what you thought.
What you found was not what you sought.
—from Rattle #42, Winter 2013
__________
Lynne Knight: “I like to play with form, and one day, I decided to write a poem whose second stanza would go in reverse. I’d seen poems like that, and I liked the challenge. I decided to up the ante by using meter and rhyme. Most of my experiments like this don’t turn into poems. When they do, I think of an artist I knew who told his students, ‘Behind every good drawing are a hundred bad drawings, so get to work.’” (web)
