Saturday, August 3, 2013

Talking Back to the Mad World : Poem In Your Post

 
I will not tend. Or water,
pull, or yank,
I will not till, uproot,
 
fill up or spray.
 
The rain comes.
Or not. Plants: sun-fed,
moon-hopped, dirt-stuck.
 
Watch as flocks
of wild phlox
 
appear, disappear. My lazy,
garbagey magic
makes this nothing
happen.
 
I love
the tattered
camisole of
nothing. The world
runs its underbrush
course fed by
the nothing I give it.
 
Wars are fought.
Blood turns.
Dirt is a wide unruly room.
 
                       - Sarah C. Harwell
 
I spent an hour this morning pulling grass and weeds from the front garden bed, and I'm slowly shifting to only drought-tolerant, deer-resistant, and mainly local plants, but I would be quite content to share Ms. Harwell's practices entirely.  My neighbors, alas, would frown.   So.
 
I wish all a weekend at leisure, pondering and playing, but not plowing.  Unless that's your preference.
 
MFB, and it's back to the garden I go,
L

p.s.  Learn more about Sarah C. Harwell, poet and professor, here.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I had been struggling with making a connection with author of "Wild" until she pulled out Adrienne Rich's "Dream of a Common Language" her first night on the PCT. I paused in my reading and read "For Example," and wondered if the poet referenced is WCW, but mostly I was moved by it's beauty. Thank you.

Laurie said...

Pam, I wondered the same thing! Thank you for visiting, and I hope you'll stop by often to share your thoughts.

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