5th Anniversary by Justin Gosling

5th Anniversary

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Once like a mustard Seed, minute; now the largest Tree in the garden.

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“How beautiful is the quincunx”, Cicero said, thinking of vines those serried ranks on the southern slope, with their promise of joy. “How beautiful is the quincunx” - but this time thinking of wines and a loosened tongue,

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It started on Remembrance Day - a solemn day and we read and we sang and we wept. So we moved to bistros and changes of topic mini-orgies. But oh the frustration: only one piece per bistro, and little time to talk. Oh, the frustration, the pent-up longing for release!

And then the Forum came, and the floodgates were opened; everything anyone posted, someone took seriously; and poems poured out like beer from a bottle. And so much exposure:

in poems even the most reserved expose themselves to the wind and sun of criticism and praise.

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And now, after five years, are we any of us browning? What of it? - so that some of us are blooming: small flowers, trees and middle-sized bushes.

Justin Gosling

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