avatarJenine "Jeni" Baines

Summary

Jenine Bsharah Baines reflects on her observations and sensory experiences while caretaking her elderly mother in Cape Cod, finding beauty and wonder in the natural world and sharing her insights through poetry and prose.

Abstract

The website content is a poetic essay by Jeni Bsharah Baines, titled "A Walk in Cape Cod," which is part of the Dancing Elephants Press Prompt series for week 44 of 52. The piece captures Baines's reflections on the sensory experiences and observations she encounters during her time in Cape Cod. She describes the closing Christmas Shoppe, the resilient pines, and the vibrant outdoor scene that contrasts with the somber news of a business shutting down. Her narrative is vivid with the sight of matcha green strawberries, the scent of sweet pepperbush, and the feeling of the world's beauty in anticipatory delight. Baines also contemplates the correct pronunciation of 'amen' and the profound feeling of awe it brings, as well as expressing gratitude towards Dr. Gabriella Korosi for the prompt and her team for providing a space for her musings.

Opinions

  • The author expresses a sense of humor in the divine, noting the irony of matcha green strawberries that resemble cacti.
  • Baines finds the scent of sweet pepperbush overwhelmingly delightful, emphasizing the sensory pleasure she derives from her environment.
  • The act of breathing is presented as a way to connect deeply with the natural world, leading to a feeling of being 'swollen with anticipative delight.'
  • The author corrects her previous mispronunciation of 'amen,' highlighting the significance of the word's proper pronunciation in evoking a sense of awe.
  • Baines conveys her appreciation for the prompts provided by Dr. Gabriella Korosi and the support from her team at Dancing Elephants Press, acknowledging their role in her creative process.
  • The essay ends with a personal invitation to readers to subscribe and join her in 'pondering, playing, dreaming and singing,' indicating her desire to engage and share her experiences with others.

WHAT DO WE SEE?

A Walk in Cape Cod

Dancing Elephants Press Prompt week 44 of 52 — Observations

Photo by Jenine Bsharah Baines

The Christmas Shoppe in the strip mall is going out of business — the pines lining the parking lot, defiant — a posh, thriving piazza pearled with the greening memory of dew, tinseled with dancing strands of spilt sun.

And what’s this? Each branch is pregnant — carrying matcha green strawberries studded like cacti.

(I should have looked with my eyes, not my hands.) The divine does indeed have a wicked sense of humor.

Which the breeze appreciates fully — flinging bravos of sweet pepperbush scent so delicious I can scarcely stand it.

I breathe and breathe and breathe until my belly, too, is big. All the world swollen with anticipative delight.

Such a repast — this rose-colored respite from the rest of it.

I’ve been mispronouncing amen. It’s not ‘a’ like in acorn, but ‘a’ like in awe.

Towering oaks of awe. Sweet, little cups of awe brimming over. Couplets of praise and gratefulness writing themselves in the asphalt like roadsigns and signals and a child’s chalked stars.

©Jenine Bsharah Baines 2023

Thank you to Dr. Gabriella Korosi for a wondrous prompt:

Also, please enjoy this luminous poem on ‘inward sight’ by Leah Lynch:

Thank you, team at Dancing Elephants Press, for the home for this musing — begun while caretaking my very elderly mother in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Dr. Gabriella Korosi, Dr. Preeti Singh, Annelise Lords, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles.

Thank you, dearest readers. Love.

Jeni

please click here if inclined to ponder, play, dream and sing with me.

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Dep Poetry
Poetry
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Awe
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