Christmas on the West Coast
Twigs stunning in diamonds
doors lined running pearls
scribble reindeer all lit up
under Christmas tree swirls.
Balconies wearing ruby
emerald, agate bling
like necklaces, bracelets
scarves, pins and a ring.
Roof lines cascade ice lights
twinkle bells and bright stars.
Windows beam the old story.
Velvet antlers deck cars.
On the city hall rooftop
in stitches of white
Wise Men come ever nearer
star-led through the night.
In the rain plaza glistens
all that’s missing is snow
to soften the sparkle
of a silent night glow.
© 2013 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)
***************
I love Christmas lights! How can you tell?
We do sometimes have snow. We actually had a dusting earlier in the week that lasted for a few days but this afternoon the rains came back. So we’ll take what we get and look on the bright side. For the wet just adds to the sparkle, making it all the prettier.
This post is part of Poetry Friday, hosted today by the eclectic and always interesting Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference.
Violet Nesdoly / poems 
Tabatha
December 13, 2013 at 5:46 am
The photos and poem work together so well — is this an ekphrastic poem? (Did the photos come first?)
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Violet Nesdoly
December 13, 2013 at 6:59 am
It’s all of a piece, Tabatha. I probably took the photos first, as I wrote this poem last December, and I think I took all the photos before then. I was getting off on the beauty of the lights, and probably had these images in my head because my photos are part of my noticing.
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jama
December 13, 2013 at 10:37 am
Oh, thanks for the light show and perfect poem and photo pairing! Final stanza is my favorite. 🙂
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Violet Nesdoly
December 13, 2013 at 8:37 pm
Glad you enjoyed! Those light reflected in the wet streets are actually a plus–though muted by snow have a special Christmas quality I still miss (growing up in snowy Saskatchewan).
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Liz Steinglass
December 13, 2013 at 4:57 pm
I love Christmas lights too. I think of them as human-made compensation for the dark days of the garden.
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Violet Nesdoly
December 13, 2013 at 8:38 pm
“…human-made compensation for the dark days of the garden” – well said! I only wish people kept them going through January too which seems doubly dark after all the lights.
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Michelle Heidenrich Barnes
December 13, 2013 at 6:37 pm
The lights dress the buildings and you give them the royal treatment with your words! Very nice.
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Violet Nesdoly
December 13, 2013 at 8:39 pm
Thank you Michelle! Every year I enjoy them so much, I thought they deserved some laud 🙂
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Linda Baie
December 13, 2013 at 9:11 pm
In Kansas City, where I lived in my older childhood there is a dazzling place lit at Christmas, the Countryclub Plaza. Your lights reminded me of that, and the poems are wonderfully paired, Violet. I like “Roof lines cascade ice lights/twinkle bells and bright stars.
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Violet Nesdoly
December 14, 2013 at 6:48 am
Thank you, Linda! Your Countryclub Plaza sounds wonderful! Every year there are light displays around here too. This year we clipped the ad in the paper telling us where they are but haven’t visited them yet. Your comment reminds me–that might be a fun thing to do one of these nights.
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Mary Lee Hahn
December 14, 2013 at 5:27 am
Gorgeous! (words AND pictures!!)
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Violet Nesdoly
December 14, 2013 at 6:50 am
Thanks, Mary Lee! It was a lot of fun to put together. Actually, when I started assembling the photos, I was surprised at how I could pair a photo with each stanza, showing me how much the images in my head had been influenced by what I had captured at one point or another, with my camera!
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