Rose of Roses Exhibition and Poetry Readings for the Month of Love, 2017

St. Valentine’s Day 

Evening of Poetry & Roses

The “Rose of Roses” Exhibition

Hosted by Dr. Maja Trochimczyk 

Featuring Mariko Kitakubo with Roger

and Kathabela and Rick Wilson

The Back Door Bakery and Café 

8349 Foothill Blvd, Sunland, CA 91040

February 14, 2017 at 7:00 pm

                  

        

Moonrise Press presents the second solo exhibition of photographs, "Rose of Roses" by Maja Trochimczyk. It could be subtitled "Rose Photos for the Month of Love." The title is a tribute to the Song of Songs, of course.

This exhibition is held in the Back Door Bakery and Cafe in Sunland (8349 Foothill Blvd.),   on display for a month, from February 4th to March 4th, 2017. The Valentine's Day Evening of Poetry and Roses is on Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 7-9 pm. and the Artist's Reception is on Sunday, February 26, 2017 at 7-9 p.m. after the Village Poets Monthly Reading at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga. We will have live music, poetry readings and more...

The "Rose of Roses" exhibition features roses from Trochimczyk's garden and from Descanso Gardens, as seen after rain, in the evening, in the morning, with sharply contrasted shadows, in the shade and in direct sunlight. As she writes on her Poetry Laurels Blog: "I discovered an endless variety of patterns in their petals and decided to capture the blossoms for far longer than the five days they remain on the bushes. The result was my private collection of electronic rose photos, that I used on my website and on margins of poems. It was fun."

Rose Garland

I thought roses.
I thought rich, velvet blossoms.
I thought a red rainbow 
from deep crimson to delicately pinkish.

The secret was underground
where the roots sustain 
the multi-hued orgy of sensuous allure – 
flowers opening to dazzle and fade.

The strength of the rose
is invisible – you see the blush
of seduction in each leaf and petal, 

You admire their charms.
Yet, you care for what’s out of sight,
not for the obvious.

I thought your love.
I thought how you adore me.
I went deeper down to the source.

The rose, Sappho’s lightning 
of beauty, breathes love,
laughs at the wind and wonders

how the mystic rosebush twirls, 
crowned with the royal 
garland of fire. 

[Untitled]

For you, I'm a pear
with persimmon flavor
bathed in vanilla milk,
my skin is smooth, electric
it tingles when you touch me
I sing -
Of all the gardens of the world,
all the orchards,
all the fruit-bearing trees,
all the roses,
I'm the richest.
my blossoms are most abundant,
my fragrance - the rarest,
beyond reach

Rose Always - A Court Love Story was all in dew-drop rose-red, and filled with love poetry of delight, desire, fulfillment, and heartbreak.  Inspired by the Songs of Songs and centuries of love poems, from Sappho to Milosz, this novella in verse consisted of 85 lyrical poems and 24 brief, narrative fragments, based, in part, on authentic court documents. A range of literary allusions enriched this unlikely love story. Revised edition, Moonrise Press, 2011, 152 pp. (withdrawn in 2018).

Rose Window

I place you in the heart
of my rose, dark red one
with dew drops on its leaves.
Like a tricked-up baby
from Ann Geddes' postcard
you rest, snugly wrapped
in the comfort of my love.
"That too shall pass," they say,
"That too shall pass.
The rose will wither,
love will fade away."

Respectfully, I disagree.
I know the symmetry
of velvet petals
is but an opening
into a different universe,
a cosmic window,
timeless.
I see it in the shyness
of your smile. Yes.
You are that lucky.
In the morning
when the curtains of mist
open above silver hills
carved from time
like a Japanese woodcut,
you taste freedom.
You found your true self
under the detritus
of disordered life.
Isn't it strange
that you've been saved
by the perfection
of just one rose?

All lovers should be happy, even if their love is gone, dead, or lost in the mist of time. It is the supreme gift of having been able to feel what generations of poets have felt, from the divine Sappho until today...