O at the Edges

Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.

Giving Time

Posted on July 4, 2015 by robert okaji

Giving Time

The supplicant’s desire:

mornings sliced into perfect pieces, afternoons
dipped in honey, evenings freed.

A gift of absence.

To gather and bear, shaping
the resultant minutes,

she takes yeast from the air, adds
flour, water and salt.

Matched with the ripening

hour and the sweetened bitter taste,
I recall how blood
seeped through the towel, and

observe on the table the
cheese, plums, the harvested day.

* * *
This originally appeared on Bonnie Mcclellan’s International Poetry Month website. A recording is also available there: https://bonniemcclellan.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/giving-time-by-robert-okaji/

24 thoughts on “Giving Time”

Olga on July 4, 2015 at 12:45 pm said:

A very interesting way with words. Enjoyed this piece.

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- robert okaji on July 4, 2015 at 12:51 pm said:
  
  Thank you, Olga. Much appreciated.
  
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Mary Tang on July 4, 2015 at 7:25 pm said:

I have translated the poem into Chinese:
用心

懇求者之願望：
早晨裁成恰好的片段
下午蘸蜜糖，黃昏無事
一份不存在的禮物
收集，承擔，創作
利用所得的片刻
她用天賜的酵母
麵粉，水和鹽
配上夠促熟的時段
和變甜了的苦味
我記得那血怎樣
滲透毛巾，又
看到擺在桌上的
奶酪，李子，
收穫成的一天

(c) Mary Tang

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- robert okaji on July 4, 2015 at 8:20 pm said:
  
  Thank you, Mary!
  
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  - Mary Tang on July 4, 2015 at 8:22 pm said:
    
    Thank you, Robert
    
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lifelessons on July 4, 2015 at 11:43 pm said:

Lovely. I love the “harvested day.”

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- robert okaji on July 5, 2015 at 10:49 am said:
  
  Thanks, Judy.
  
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Joseph Nebus on July 5, 2015 at 12:00 am said:

I like the afternoons dipped in honey.

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- robert okaji on July 5, 2015 at 10:50 am said:
  
  We don’t have enough of them!
  
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  - Joseph Nebus on July 5, 2015 at 11:41 pm said:
    
    That’s true. Could use some more of them.
    
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10000hoursleft on July 5, 2015 at 6:49 am said:

I think the world needs a poetry/cookbook written by you! : )

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- robert okaji on July 5, 2015 at 10:51 am said:
  
  It would be very thin!
  
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  - 10000hoursleft on July 6, 2015 at 5:57 am said:
    
    Less calories that way?
    
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  - robert okaji on July 6, 2015 at 7:25 am said:
    
    Ah, poetry-lite!
    
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hamiltonju on July 5, 2015 at 7:34 am said:

Reblogged this on Le cose piu belle (the most beautiful things).

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- robert okaji on July 5, 2015 at 10:51 am said:
  
  Thanks for reblogging.
  
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theunsualbeauty on July 5, 2015 at 12:28 pm said:

Good.

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- robert okaji on July 5, 2015 at 12:38 pm said:
  
  Thank you.
  
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Ruhkash on July 5, 2015 at 6:17 pm said:

This is beautiful, refreshing and so unique in its own way:)

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- robert okaji on July 5, 2015 at 6:49 pm said:
  
  Thank you very much.
  
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Cate on July 6, 2015 at 8:17 am said:

“…the harvested day.” How lovely.

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- robert okaji on July 6, 2015 at 7:25 pm said:
  
  Sometimes they lie fallow.
  
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Leigh W. Smith on July 6, 2015 at 7:23 pm said:

Robert, there’s a lot to piece together here, not the least of which is the fascinating enjambment. I also put myself in the place of the supplicant, rather than some dispassionate observer/reader. As always, wow.

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- robert okaji on July 6, 2015 at 7:28 pm said:
  
  Thanks, Leigh. This is one of those cases in which the form seemed to lead the way.
  
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