Mr. TJ Housley, I accidentally come upon your earlier writings on alfalfa on this blog, and I was moved by what I read. I heard the echo of a kindred spirit. Kind of strange to say this on a public blog. Even the word blog makes me think of marshy quick sand.
A poet’s job is to find both the body and the spirit and connect them. I think you do that.
Your work makes me want to share some observances of mine with you about the humblest of our neighbors, grass. Underfoot and trod upon it has contributed much to our common language, the mix of metaphors and contradictions that circle our psyches.
We take for granted, accept so much as ordinary that which is not. Is grass like sleep, something that is either unfathomable or a gift? A few of the words I associate grass with are, longing, growth, progress, up, persistence, hope and light.
The body of grass can be found in its greenness
A breaking of ground
The turning of the earth
Slender shafts uncurling
Tender pale on first emergence
An insistent flowering towards the light
One blade entwining roots with all
Separate individuals forming a whole
Even its voice found in the wind caress of one on another
Whispered again by the cricket
Grass has a directional parameter
Primarily growing upwards
Up now being for us the direction of forward progress
One blade, all blades indomitable before the blade
Can there be growth without longing
Grass, a visual representation of hope
Here can be found its spirit
© 2008 Audri Phillips
Please note that all other writings of mine to TJ will be posted on-
http://thotsohousley.blogspot.com from now on.
No comments:
Post a Comment