‘Plum Blossom Blessings’ by Margaret Coats The Society January 31, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 33 Comments . Plum Blossom Blessings The pine, bamboo, and plum are winter’s friends, Yet plum trees bloom to overcome the chill And herald spring. Resilient health extends Throughout my struggling mind and body ill; Spiced fragrance with that ruby beauty blends. Flame-draped in cozy apricot orange twill, A wealth of blossoms spills straight from the bough, Enriching me with comforts that fulfill My needs, and promise richly to endow My home and friends with goods I give at will. Touching a silvered branch, I wonder how Twelve pearly moons may benefit this year; Full ripened virtue is my glowing vow, Allegiance to the radiance I revere With strength these growing snow white buds show now. Longevity like velvet wields a spear That’s tipped with force, but smoothly helps me dare Oppose time’s ravages through murrey cheer, An atmosphere advancing wisdom’s flair As customary music flowers here. Its wintersweet ambrosial thoroughfare A happy death and renaissance portends; For peaceful silence, plum’s the word to air: New bathed in rosy myrrh, the soul ascends When years begin with pink bouquets of prayer. . Poet’s Note: In Chinese lore, the five-petaled plum blossom (which comes in varied colors) represents the five blessings of health, wealth, virtue, longevity, and a calm, happy death. The longevity stanza above alludes to the plum blossom spear, a “king of weapons” in martial arts, well suited to agile elders. . . Margaret Coats lives in California. She holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University. She has retired from a career of teaching literature, languages, and writing that included considerable work in homeschooling for her own family and others. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Trending now: 33 Responses C.B. Anderson January 31, 2022 Perhaps it’s my affinity for botanic subjects, or maybe it’s just that I adore well-measured lines containing intricate ideas, but I think I like this poem as much as or more than any other by you that I have read here. I won’t point to any particular lines or tropes, because the poem is all of one piece, with nothing left out and nothing added that does not belong, which, as far as I’m concerned, is the ideal. I won’t say that I wish I had written this, but for damn sure I’m glad that you did. Like all great poems, attempts to imitate would produce only imitations. Reply Margaret Coats January 31, 2022 What a great first comment for my lunar new year poem! Thanks for the good omen, C. B., and here’s wishing you blessings of blossoms. Reply Cynthia Erlandson January 31, 2022 I love the way you have woven this together, Margaret: the rhyme scheme that overlaps perfectly from verse to verse, like petals; the five-line stanzas corresponding to the five petals of the blossom; the five verses, one for each of the blessings. And the last line, especially, is perfectly exquisite! Reply Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 As you thought, the verse form based on fives is intended to reflect the flowers. As well, five is a lucky number in Japan, although it can be either lucky or unlucky in China. Since this poem is based on a Chinese idea, I tried to make upbeat fives! Reply Talbot January 31, 2022 What a lovely symbolic musing, and thank you for invoking the Three Friends of Winter (岁寒三友), some of my constant companions on winter walks! Your line “With strength these growing snow white buds show now” rolls exceptionally well off the tongue. Happy Lunar New Year! Reply Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 I too like the Three Friends of Winter. Once holiday season I made a door decoration with them, instead of using a wreath. The pine as evergreen preserved the symbolism of the wreath, but I had to get plastic plum blossoms. Glad the poem had special touches for you, and happy new year to you too! Reply Allegra Silberstein January 31, 2022 Beautiful poem…loved pink bouquets of prayer. Thank you …Allegra Reply Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 Beauty and prayer are the best ways to start a new year! I’m happy you enjoyed the bouquets. Reply David Watt February 1, 2022 Margaret, the planning and thought that you put into this poem is obvious. Additional to having five stanzas of five lines each, you have used precisely five rhymes. Not that I lingered too long on the underlying framework. This rich poem captured my imagination, and full attention. Reply Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 Using just the five rhymes enables me to round out the perimeter of the blossom. It’s easier than making a shape poem! Thank you for your attention and appreciative response. Reply James Sale February 1, 2022 A beautiful poem, Margaret, lush and rich, and I love the final line: ‘pink bouquets of prayer’ – such a brilliant image. Well done. Reply Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 Thank you, James. The lushness and richness attempt to suit the great value of the five great blessings. I have my personal associations of plum blossoms and prayer, as the plum blossom is the symbol of my favorite Shinto shrine in Kyoto. The shrine deity (in his human life, a courtier poet who loved plum blossoms) is god of scholarship and students. The place is a magnet for students yearning to pass examinations and get into top universities. My prayers there were not directed to Tenjin, but I liked the atmosphere of concern with studies. Reply Paul Freeman February 1, 2022 ‘I wonder how / Twelve pearly moons may benefit this year’ – my favourite line. Although low key, this layered poem says a lot. Thanks for the read, Margaret. Reply Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 Thank you, Paul. We do sometimes wonder what the months ahead will bring, but that line is a pictorial way of thinking about it. Since it is the lunar new year, I’m considering the contribution of the beautiful full moon nights I can see from my home. A clear benefit to the year! Glad you liked the poem, and best wishes for your new year. Reply Brian Yapko February 1, 2022 This is a very beautiful poem, Margaret. Cynthia pointed out the exact features of form that I also noticed and admired with your use of prosody in fives. I will return to this one again because it is worth several readings. Blessings to you for the lunar new year! Reply Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 Thank you, Brian, and blessings to you as well. The form of the poem is the form I created last year for the cherry blossom poem–except that the cherry blossom had a notch in each stanza (one metrical foot omitted in the middle line) to depict the different shape of cherry blossom petals. Now I am wondering what I can do next year for a peach blossom poem. Peach blossom petals taper out at the center of the petal (at least they do in Japanese diagrammatic representations). I’m not sure a hexameter in the middle of each stanza will sound right, but I have a year to think about it. I am happy that you find “Plum Blossom Blessings” worth further meditation. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant February 2, 2022 Margaret, “Plum Blossom Blessings” (delicious title) is a sumptuous and delightful treat of a poem that fires the senses and engages the imagination, while educating the reader on Chinese lore and wowing them with a form that complements those five blessings adeptly and beautifully. How many poems offer such a floral feast of fine fare to dine on? Exquisite! Reply Margaret Coats February 2, 2022 Thanks, Susan, for making your comment in those terms! This is my second synaesthetic poem (the first being “Cherry Blossom Viewing”), with something for all the senses. The most difficult sense to appeal to is taste, and here my speaker doesn’t eat or drink anything. I do have the fruit words “plum,” “apricot,” and “orange,” but I intend to satisfy taste mainly with the “wintersweet ambrosial thoroughfare.” A thoroughfare is not really “fare,” but should suggest it, following “ambrosial.” I wonder whether Texas serves the same southern ambrosia I knew in Florida: fresh orange sections and maraschino cherries, topped with shredded coconut. My idea is to imagine eating this (maybe over vanilla ice cream, as plum blossoms bloom with snow on the branch), while “customary music” flows on from the previous stanza. I’m glad the poem put you in the mood for a visit to the sweet shop! Reply Anna J Arredondo February 2, 2022 Margaret, I enjoyed this poem very much, virtually began to sense a floral aroma as I read it, and was left with a satisfyingly pleasant feeling. Thanks to Cynthia’s observation I was also able to appreciate your clever incorporation of fives. Reply Margaret Coats February 2, 2022 I’m glad you enjoyed the blossoms, Anna. Now that I think about it, isn’t our first response to a beautiful bouquet always to put it up to our faces and smell the flowers? Plum blossoms (unlike cherries) do have a pleasant, satisfying, spiced fragrance. And I tried to emphasize that with “full ripened,” “wintersweet,” and “rosy myrrh” as well. Thanks for the aromatic comment! Reply R M Moore February 2, 2022 Thanks for an uplifting poem, Margaret. Reply Margaret Coats February 3, 2022 Thank you! These blessings seem to be universally esteemed, and thus any little contemplation based on them can well be uplifting. I’m glad you found it so. Reply BDW February 3, 2022 as per Lew Icarus Bede: As a rhyme purist, Ms. Coats suggested alternate changes in L5 of “Annuary Stichs”; but like Dickinson, I savour slant rhymes; but even more than those, sim rhymes; so is my mind composed. Nor would I dare suggest Ms. Coats’ metrical variations be altered; for they caused me to think more deeply at those points (e.g., L6, L11 and L14). The descriptive phrasing, synaesthesic, opulent and Keatsian, is neatly utilized for her varied purposes, not least, nor best, in her entwining of East and West, where there is a Modernist feel to the poem, as if H. D. were stitching imagisting [sic] phrases together in a pasticcio, while still retaining a traditional format, as if Edward Taylor were creating a homily in verse. Although “Pine Blossom Blessings” is throughout a remarkable verbal “artifact” (à la Mr. Salemi), particular lines demonstrate Ms. Coats’ artistry: L1, L3-L4, L10, the classical side of Keats (à la Mr. Gosselin), L6-L7, the brilliant image, L15, the thoughtful assonance, L17-L18, the unexpected conflict and concluding, striking phrase, and L20’s Dickinsonian moment of insight—“prayer”. Reply Margaret Coats February 3, 2022 As I was answering you below, in full box length, another comment slipped in! Please take the trouble to read below Joshua Mincio’s remark. Reply Joshua Mincio February 3, 2022 Mrs. Coats, Thank you for this poem. I always appreciate your translations, but I delight in reading your original compositions. JM Reply Margaret Coats February 3, 2022 Thank you! It’s good to hear from you, and I hope you will have the earliest blossoms of the year soon in your current location, with many blessings. Reply Margaret Coats February 3, 2022 Thank you, Bruce, for the great compliment of having studied the poem so closely. I recognize the validity of your comparisons to H. D. and to Keats, and I suppose the poem could be considered a pastiche of stylistic eclecticism, although I would say it’s most like my own “Cherry Blossom Viewing.” The Keatsian part is, I think, situational, as I mention an illness that I hope I’m in the process of overcoming. When you also point to line 10, I may be expressing a thought dear to Keats. He was not a wealthy man, but desired resources that would give him the ability to be generous to others. From my point of view, that is the essence of wealth, the most important use of money beyond meeting needs and having small comforts that a truly necessitous person could not afford. I admire the Imagists, and their program of creating clear, crisp images to convey powerful impressions or emotions. As a poetic school, I think it was sadly but necessarily short-lived. Imagery is a technique used in almost every kind of poetry, so there was nothing genuinely distinctive about that. Modernism made bad use of the Imagist insight by focusing on brevity and proceeding to emphasize commonness. That helped modernist poets abandon sentence structure and the attempt to offer readers logical thought. A poem was hardly artistic craft, but merely something to evoke a response in the reader. That viewpoint naturally led to stupidity and vulgarity being considered desirable for their own sakes. I grant you that my images have some resemblance to the clearly impressive ones of H. D., and I thank you for pointing that out, as it helps me understand my own work better. But I doubt she would have wanted her work to be “rich,” as some previous commenters have called this poem of mine. It’s not just that I’m working in a chosen lyric form, with meter and rhyme. There are complete sentences, structured clearly enough (I hope) for moderately patient readers to grasp the train of thought. I also strive to use the rich vocabulary of English, including archaic or uncommon words–although not many in a single poem. The example here is “murrey,” reddish purple in heraldry (both archaic and uncommon!) to indicate purple as the color of blossoms for the longevity stanza. Images quickly verge into symbolism, and I would say this poem is not a pastiche, but a bouquet that I tried to arrange beautifully. It gathers up all the colors and symbolism of the flowers, to say a few things about the blessings hoped for in the new lunar year. I appreciate your using the Italian “pasticcio” to suggest its ordered musicality. Thanks again! Reply Tom Rimer February 4, 2022 Margaret –for some reason (and for the first time, I believe) I read all the comments before writing down my own responses to your poem, and I am truly impressed with the range and depth of the comments you have received. Given my experiences in teaching Asian literature, my own responses were conditioned through having experienced so many Chinese and Japanese poems, both in the original and in translation. Your work blends beautifully with them, I too, to use your words, found this poem a kind of bouquet, offered up in gratitude and prayer. And yes, I too, was put in mind of some of the work I have read of H.D. many years ago. This poem is such a moving way to begin a new year: with affirmations of health and humility. Reply Margaret Coats February 5, 2022 Thanks, Tom for visiting and reading poem and comments. I agree that there has been a remarkable range of thoughtful response to the poem and the topic. Makes me think of this best-known poem by Sugawara Michizane (the courtier poet become Shinto deity, whom I referred to by his god-name of Tenjin, in my reply to James Sale above). When the east wind blows Let it send forth your fragrance, Oh, my plum blossoms! Although your master is gone, Do not forget spring. This was written after his exile from Kyoto, and may be what is supposed to have caused his plum tree at home to uproot itself and fly to him. That’s power in poetry! And to continue the story (adding my own thoughts), it also helps explain why the poet is buried in Dazaifu, even though the Emperor, after Michizane’s death, restored him to rank and honor, and sent for his body to be buried at what is now Kitano Tenmangu Shrine. Japanese tradition maintains that the ox drawing the cart refused to go beyond the spot where Dazaifu Tenmangu now stands, for which reason Michizane needed to be buried there. My addition to tradition is, the ox was somehow stopped by the spirit of Michizane, who did not want to leave the beloved plum tree re-rooted in Dazaifu, and thus arranged to stay with his loyal companion in exile. This sounds like material for another plum blossom poem, more based on Japanese than Chinese lore! Reply Phyllis Schabow February 5, 2022 In the winter of the world’s current misery, it is refreshing to have the scent of spring – the scent of a tree that flowers in many shades of pink, and then produces fruit. Thank you Margaret for warming the current chill with your charming reflections on shades of pink – the lovely blossoms woven into words that charm us. God bless your many talents! Reply Margaret Coats February 6, 2022 Thank you, Phyllis! Plum blossoms and their many colors naturally lead to thinking of a special shade for each blessing the flowers represent. The first stanza recalls many Japanese and Chinese poems, in which recovery of health from winter maladies is a pleasant sign of spring. I use the word “ruby” there to suggest the fullness of health symbolized in a true red flower (plum blossoms, unlike cherries, can have the true red color). In the last stanza for the blessing of a peaceful, happy death, I thought of the returning spring of eternal life, and this seemed the best place for the pastel shades. Pink is obviously there, but “wintersweet” refers to yellow as well, with “wintersweet lemon” as a name for pale yellow plum blossoms currently favored in some Chinese gardens. As you can see, there are even more colors than blessings, which implies more blessings available than we usually consider. May you and your family receive many of them! Reply Tom Rimer February 7, 2022 Margaret, I noticed your discussion with Phyllis Schabow, above, concerning colors, and I wonder if you might say something about the word “murrey,” a word not previously known to me. I assume it’s being used as an adjective here, defining the word “cheer” by a color, an (to me) an unusual touch, and I wonder if you might explain what the actual color is like and what significance it may have for the larger strategy of the poem. Thanks! Reply Margaret Coats February 7, 2022 Hi, Tom! My overall strategy for the poem is to have the five stanzas each correspond to one of the five blessings, and also for each stanza to feature a special color. Plum blossoms have a wide range of colors! Moreover, each stanza represents a season, with a spring stanza starting the poem, and another spring ending it. I especially like red plum blossoms, and red is not a color that cherry blossoms or peach blossoms have; it shows the plum as unique and fully alive, with a full-blooded complexion that welcomes health after recovering from winter illness and pallor. Thus my first stanza color is ruby red or true red, not shaded either toward orange or toward violet. The second stanza deals with the blessing of wealth (gold) and the season of summer. Here plum-blossom red flames into red-orange, and I also use the word “apricot,” because plum trees are most closely related to the apricot. The warmth of the blessing of wealth is comfort and generosity. In the third stanza is the blessing of virtue, which takes time to grow from good actions into good habits. I think of it as a fruit harvested in autumn, but the color is white (traditional spotlessness and stability). Or we can think of it as iridescent white (“pearly”) containing all colors. Now I finally get to the “murrey” you asked about. Fourth stanza concerns the blessing of longevity, and the color is well-aged reddish purple. In heraldry, that’s murrey (a contraction of “mulberry”). “Purple” would have fit the meter just as well, but I like the uncommon word because it sounds like “merry,” and because of the association with heraldry. I also mention the plum-blossom spear in this stanza, and “murrey” is a color used for describing coats of arms. Elders often take pride in their lineage as well as their accomplishments, and show interest in genealogy. In the last stanza, there is returning spring and the blessing of a calm, happy death. For this I chose pink plum blossoms, along with the wintersweet yellow variety. The second spring happens in this pastel stanza, just as the public symbol for death of a woman in your retirement home is a pink rose. My husband was a little concerned in reading over the poem that I might be expecting to die this year, but I showed him that I had carefully avoided any first-person pronoun in the last stanza, although there are first-persons words in the other stanzas. This reassured him. To see a good video display of many colors of plum blossom, go to YouTube and search for “Gorgeous Plum Blossom in Winter,” posted by Mr. Bangthamai. This illustrates very well the reason that plum blossoms are the winter-to-spring transition flower, with numerous photos of plums vigorously blooming with snow on their branches. Hope you like it! Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
C.B. Anderson January 31, 2022 Perhaps it’s my affinity for botanic subjects, or maybe it’s just that I adore well-measured lines containing intricate ideas, but I think I like this poem as much as or more than any other by you that I have read here. I won’t point to any particular lines or tropes, because the poem is all of one piece, with nothing left out and nothing added that does not belong, which, as far as I’m concerned, is the ideal. I won’t say that I wish I had written this, but for damn sure I’m glad that you did. Like all great poems, attempts to imitate would produce only imitations. Reply
Margaret Coats January 31, 2022 What a great first comment for my lunar new year poem! Thanks for the good omen, C. B., and here’s wishing you blessings of blossoms. Reply
Cynthia Erlandson January 31, 2022 I love the way you have woven this together, Margaret: the rhyme scheme that overlaps perfectly from verse to verse, like petals; the five-line stanzas corresponding to the five petals of the blossom; the five verses, one for each of the blessings. And the last line, especially, is perfectly exquisite! Reply
Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 As you thought, the verse form based on fives is intended to reflect the flowers. As well, five is a lucky number in Japan, although it can be either lucky or unlucky in China. Since this poem is based on a Chinese idea, I tried to make upbeat fives! Reply
Talbot January 31, 2022 What a lovely symbolic musing, and thank you for invoking the Three Friends of Winter (岁寒三友), some of my constant companions on winter walks! Your line “With strength these growing snow white buds show now” rolls exceptionally well off the tongue. Happy Lunar New Year! Reply
Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 I too like the Three Friends of Winter. Once holiday season I made a door decoration with them, instead of using a wreath. The pine as evergreen preserved the symbolism of the wreath, but I had to get plastic plum blossoms. Glad the poem had special touches for you, and happy new year to you too! Reply
Allegra Silberstein January 31, 2022 Beautiful poem…loved pink bouquets of prayer. Thank you …Allegra Reply
Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 Beauty and prayer are the best ways to start a new year! I’m happy you enjoyed the bouquets. Reply
David Watt February 1, 2022 Margaret, the planning and thought that you put into this poem is obvious. Additional to having five stanzas of five lines each, you have used precisely five rhymes. Not that I lingered too long on the underlying framework. This rich poem captured my imagination, and full attention. Reply
Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 Using just the five rhymes enables me to round out the perimeter of the blossom. It’s easier than making a shape poem! Thank you for your attention and appreciative response. Reply
James Sale February 1, 2022 A beautiful poem, Margaret, lush and rich, and I love the final line: ‘pink bouquets of prayer’ – such a brilliant image. Well done. Reply
Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 Thank you, James. The lushness and richness attempt to suit the great value of the five great blessings. I have my personal associations of plum blossoms and prayer, as the plum blossom is the symbol of my favorite Shinto shrine in Kyoto. The shrine deity (in his human life, a courtier poet who loved plum blossoms) is god of scholarship and students. The place is a magnet for students yearning to pass examinations and get into top universities. My prayers there were not directed to Tenjin, but I liked the atmosphere of concern with studies. Reply
Paul Freeman February 1, 2022 ‘I wonder how / Twelve pearly moons may benefit this year’ – my favourite line. Although low key, this layered poem says a lot. Thanks for the read, Margaret. Reply
Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 Thank you, Paul. We do sometimes wonder what the months ahead will bring, but that line is a pictorial way of thinking about it. Since it is the lunar new year, I’m considering the contribution of the beautiful full moon nights I can see from my home. A clear benefit to the year! Glad you liked the poem, and best wishes for your new year. Reply
Brian Yapko February 1, 2022 This is a very beautiful poem, Margaret. Cynthia pointed out the exact features of form that I also noticed and admired with your use of prosody in fives. I will return to this one again because it is worth several readings. Blessings to you for the lunar new year! Reply
Margaret Coats February 1, 2022 Thank you, Brian, and blessings to you as well. The form of the poem is the form I created last year for the cherry blossom poem–except that the cherry blossom had a notch in each stanza (one metrical foot omitted in the middle line) to depict the different shape of cherry blossom petals. Now I am wondering what I can do next year for a peach blossom poem. Peach blossom petals taper out at the center of the petal (at least they do in Japanese diagrammatic representations). I’m not sure a hexameter in the middle of each stanza will sound right, but I have a year to think about it. I am happy that you find “Plum Blossom Blessings” worth further meditation. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant February 2, 2022 Margaret, “Plum Blossom Blessings” (delicious title) is a sumptuous and delightful treat of a poem that fires the senses and engages the imagination, while educating the reader on Chinese lore and wowing them with a form that complements those five blessings adeptly and beautifully. How many poems offer such a floral feast of fine fare to dine on? Exquisite! Reply
Margaret Coats February 2, 2022 Thanks, Susan, for making your comment in those terms! This is my second synaesthetic poem (the first being “Cherry Blossom Viewing”), with something for all the senses. The most difficult sense to appeal to is taste, and here my speaker doesn’t eat or drink anything. I do have the fruit words “plum,” “apricot,” and “orange,” but I intend to satisfy taste mainly with the “wintersweet ambrosial thoroughfare.” A thoroughfare is not really “fare,” but should suggest it, following “ambrosial.” I wonder whether Texas serves the same southern ambrosia I knew in Florida: fresh orange sections and maraschino cherries, topped with shredded coconut. My idea is to imagine eating this (maybe over vanilla ice cream, as plum blossoms bloom with snow on the branch), while “customary music” flows on from the previous stanza. I’m glad the poem put you in the mood for a visit to the sweet shop! Reply
Anna J Arredondo February 2, 2022 Margaret, I enjoyed this poem very much, virtually began to sense a floral aroma as I read it, and was left with a satisfyingly pleasant feeling. Thanks to Cynthia’s observation I was also able to appreciate your clever incorporation of fives. Reply
Margaret Coats February 2, 2022 I’m glad you enjoyed the blossoms, Anna. Now that I think about it, isn’t our first response to a beautiful bouquet always to put it up to our faces and smell the flowers? Plum blossoms (unlike cherries) do have a pleasant, satisfying, spiced fragrance. And I tried to emphasize that with “full ripened,” “wintersweet,” and “rosy myrrh” as well. Thanks for the aromatic comment! Reply
Margaret Coats February 3, 2022 Thank you! These blessings seem to be universally esteemed, and thus any little contemplation based on them can well be uplifting. I’m glad you found it so. Reply
BDW February 3, 2022 as per Lew Icarus Bede: As a rhyme purist, Ms. Coats suggested alternate changes in L5 of “Annuary Stichs”; but like Dickinson, I savour slant rhymes; but even more than those, sim rhymes; so is my mind composed. Nor would I dare suggest Ms. Coats’ metrical variations be altered; for they caused me to think more deeply at those points (e.g., L6, L11 and L14). The descriptive phrasing, synaesthesic, opulent and Keatsian, is neatly utilized for her varied purposes, not least, nor best, in her entwining of East and West, where there is a Modernist feel to the poem, as if H. D. were stitching imagisting [sic] phrases together in a pasticcio, while still retaining a traditional format, as if Edward Taylor were creating a homily in verse. Although “Pine Blossom Blessings” is throughout a remarkable verbal “artifact” (à la Mr. Salemi), particular lines demonstrate Ms. Coats’ artistry: L1, L3-L4, L10, the classical side of Keats (à la Mr. Gosselin), L6-L7, the brilliant image, L15, the thoughtful assonance, L17-L18, the unexpected conflict and concluding, striking phrase, and L20’s Dickinsonian moment of insight—“prayer”. Reply
Margaret Coats February 3, 2022 As I was answering you below, in full box length, another comment slipped in! Please take the trouble to read below Joshua Mincio’s remark. Reply
Joshua Mincio February 3, 2022 Mrs. Coats, Thank you for this poem. I always appreciate your translations, but I delight in reading your original compositions. JM Reply
Margaret Coats February 3, 2022 Thank you! It’s good to hear from you, and I hope you will have the earliest blossoms of the year soon in your current location, with many blessings. Reply
Margaret Coats February 3, 2022 Thank you, Bruce, for the great compliment of having studied the poem so closely. I recognize the validity of your comparisons to H. D. and to Keats, and I suppose the poem could be considered a pastiche of stylistic eclecticism, although I would say it’s most like my own “Cherry Blossom Viewing.” The Keatsian part is, I think, situational, as I mention an illness that I hope I’m in the process of overcoming. When you also point to line 10, I may be expressing a thought dear to Keats. He was not a wealthy man, but desired resources that would give him the ability to be generous to others. From my point of view, that is the essence of wealth, the most important use of money beyond meeting needs and having small comforts that a truly necessitous person could not afford. I admire the Imagists, and their program of creating clear, crisp images to convey powerful impressions or emotions. As a poetic school, I think it was sadly but necessarily short-lived. Imagery is a technique used in almost every kind of poetry, so there was nothing genuinely distinctive about that. Modernism made bad use of the Imagist insight by focusing on brevity and proceeding to emphasize commonness. That helped modernist poets abandon sentence structure and the attempt to offer readers logical thought. A poem was hardly artistic craft, but merely something to evoke a response in the reader. That viewpoint naturally led to stupidity and vulgarity being considered desirable for their own sakes. I grant you that my images have some resemblance to the clearly impressive ones of H. D., and I thank you for pointing that out, as it helps me understand my own work better. But I doubt she would have wanted her work to be “rich,” as some previous commenters have called this poem of mine. It’s not just that I’m working in a chosen lyric form, with meter and rhyme. There are complete sentences, structured clearly enough (I hope) for moderately patient readers to grasp the train of thought. I also strive to use the rich vocabulary of English, including archaic or uncommon words–although not many in a single poem. The example here is “murrey,” reddish purple in heraldry (both archaic and uncommon!) to indicate purple as the color of blossoms for the longevity stanza. Images quickly verge into symbolism, and I would say this poem is not a pastiche, but a bouquet that I tried to arrange beautifully. It gathers up all the colors and symbolism of the flowers, to say a few things about the blessings hoped for in the new lunar year. I appreciate your using the Italian “pasticcio” to suggest its ordered musicality. Thanks again! Reply
Tom Rimer February 4, 2022 Margaret –for some reason (and for the first time, I believe) I read all the comments before writing down my own responses to your poem, and I am truly impressed with the range and depth of the comments you have received. Given my experiences in teaching Asian literature, my own responses were conditioned through having experienced so many Chinese and Japanese poems, both in the original and in translation. Your work blends beautifully with them, I too, to use your words, found this poem a kind of bouquet, offered up in gratitude and prayer. And yes, I too, was put in mind of some of the work I have read of H.D. many years ago. This poem is such a moving way to begin a new year: with affirmations of health and humility. Reply
Margaret Coats February 5, 2022 Thanks, Tom for visiting and reading poem and comments. I agree that there has been a remarkable range of thoughtful response to the poem and the topic. Makes me think of this best-known poem by Sugawara Michizane (the courtier poet become Shinto deity, whom I referred to by his god-name of Tenjin, in my reply to James Sale above). When the east wind blows Let it send forth your fragrance, Oh, my plum blossoms! Although your master is gone, Do not forget spring. This was written after his exile from Kyoto, and may be what is supposed to have caused his plum tree at home to uproot itself and fly to him. That’s power in poetry! And to continue the story (adding my own thoughts), it also helps explain why the poet is buried in Dazaifu, even though the Emperor, after Michizane’s death, restored him to rank and honor, and sent for his body to be buried at what is now Kitano Tenmangu Shrine. Japanese tradition maintains that the ox drawing the cart refused to go beyond the spot where Dazaifu Tenmangu now stands, for which reason Michizane needed to be buried there. My addition to tradition is, the ox was somehow stopped by the spirit of Michizane, who did not want to leave the beloved plum tree re-rooted in Dazaifu, and thus arranged to stay with his loyal companion in exile. This sounds like material for another plum blossom poem, more based on Japanese than Chinese lore! Reply
Phyllis Schabow February 5, 2022 In the winter of the world’s current misery, it is refreshing to have the scent of spring – the scent of a tree that flowers in many shades of pink, and then produces fruit. Thank you Margaret for warming the current chill with your charming reflections on shades of pink – the lovely blossoms woven into words that charm us. God bless your many talents! Reply
Margaret Coats February 6, 2022 Thank you, Phyllis! Plum blossoms and their many colors naturally lead to thinking of a special shade for each blessing the flowers represent. The first stanza recalls many Japanese and Chinese poems, in which recovery of health from winter maladies is a pleasant sign of spring. I use the word “ruby” there to suggest the fullness of health symbolized in a true red flower (plum blossoms, unlike cherries, can have the true red color). In the last stanza for the blessing of a peaceful, happy death, I thought of the returning spring of eternal life, and this seemed the best place for the pastel shades. Pink is obviously there, but “wintersweet” refers to yellow as well, with “wintersweet lemon” as a name for pale yellow plum blossoms currently favored in some Chinese gardens. As you can see, there are even more colors than blessings, which implies more blessings available than we usually consider. May you and your family receive many of them! Reply
Tom Rimer February 7, 2022 Margaret, I noticed your discussion with Phyllis Schabow, above, concerning colors, and I wonder if you might say something about the word “murrey,” a word not previously known to me. I assume it’s being used as an adjective here, defining the word “cheer” by a color, an (to me) an unusual touch, and I wonder if you might explain what the actual color is like and what significance it may have for the larger strategy of the poem. Thanks! Reply
Margaret Coats February 7, 2022 Hi, Tom! My overall strategy for the poem is to have the five stanzas each correspond to one of the five blessings, and also for each stanza to feature a special color. Plum blossoms have a wide range of colors! Moreover, each stanza represents a season, with a spring stanza starting the poem, and another spring ending it. I especially like red plum blossoms, and red is not a color that cherry blossoms or peach blossoms have; it shows the plum as unique and fully alive, with a full-blooded complexion that welcomes health after recovering from winter illness and pallor. Thus my first stanza color is ruby red or true red, not shaded either toward orange or toward violet. The second stanza deals with the blessing of wealth (gold) and the season of summer. Here plum-blossom red flames into red-orange, and I also use the word “apricot,” because plum trees are most closely related to the apricot. The warmth of the blessing of wealth is comfort and generosity. In the third stanza is the blessing of virtue, which takes time to grow from good actions into good habits. I think of it as a fruit harvested in autumn, but the color is white (traditional spotlessness and stability). Or we can think of it as iridescent white (“pearly”) containing all colors. Now I finally get to the “murrey” you asked about. Fourth stanza concerns the blessing of longevity, and the color is well-aged reddish purple. In heraldry, that’s murrey (a contraction of “mulberry”). “Purple” would have fit the meter just as well, but I like the uncommon word because it sounds like “merry,” and because of the association with heraldry. I also mention the plum-blossom spear in this stanza, and “murrey” is a color used for describing coats of arms. Elders often take pride in their lineage as well as their accomplishments, and show interest in genealogy. In the last stanza, there is returning spring and the blessing of a calm, happy death. For this I chose pink plum blossoms, along with the wintersweet yellow variety. The second spring happens in this pastel stanza, just as the public symbol for death of a woman in your retirement home is a pink rose. My husband was a little concerned in reading over the poem that I might be expecting to die this year, but I showed him that I had carefully avoided any first-person pronoun in the last stanza, although there are first-persons words in the other stanzas. This reassured him. To see a good video display of many colors of plum blossom, go to YouTube and search for “Gorgeous Plum Blossom in Winter,” posted by Mr. Bangthamai. This illustrates very well the reason that plum blossoms are the winter-to-spring transition flower, with numerous photos of plums vigorously blooming with snow on their branches. Hope you like it! Reply
