Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Putting the Garden In - June 8 2022

 

Putting the Garden In

June 8 2022


Dirt is the gritty brown stuff

you track into the house

or comes with the dog.

Sand, dust, gloppy mud.

Lifeless.

A violation

of the notion of in vs out.

Who knows what it's been up to

or where it's from.


While soil is alive,

rich

with microscopic life,

worms, fungi, viruses.

Bacteria

that might cure cancer

or kill us all with plague.

An intricate skein of roots

and decomposing organics.

Here, outside

the life of the planet.


And between these walls

dark, sterile, dry.

Make a mess

in my mother's inner sanctum

and get the evil eye

find yourself grounded.


Wet black soil

cupped in my hands.

I bring it to my nose

and inhale the loamy scent,

imagine its complexity

and what will grow.

Sun, earth, air.

Plants, as if by magic

feeding on light

in rich fertile soil.


Words have meaning.

Honour them.


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