August 26, 2008
Tuesday Poem
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A Blade of Grass
Brian Patten
…………………
You ask for a poem.
I offer you a blade of grass.
You say it is not good enough.
You ask for a poem.
…………………
I say this blade of grass will do.
It has dressed itself in frost,
It is more immediate
Than any image of my making.
…………………
You say it is not a poem,
It is a blade of grass and grass
Is not quite good enough.
I offer you a blade of grass.
…………………
You are indignant.
You say it is too easy to offer grass.
It is absurd.
Anyone can offer a blade of grass.
…………………
You ask for a poem.
And so I write you a tragedy about
How a blade of grass
Becomes more and more difficult to offer,
…………………
And about how as you grow older
A blade of grass
Becomes more difficult to accept.
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Posted by Jim Culleny at 07:11 AM | Permalink
Comments
Reminds me of Jose Marti's poem
Cultivo una Rosa Blanca
Cultivo una rosa blanca
En Junio como en Enero,
Para el amigo sincero,
Que me da su mano franca.
Y para el cruel que me arranca
El corazón con que vivo,
Cardo ni ortiga cultivo
cultivo una rosa blanca.
Planting a white rose
I plant a white rose,
in July as in January,
for the sincere friend
that offers me his frank hand.
And for the cruel one, that
breaks the heart that gives me life,
neither nettle nor thistle do I raise:
I raise a white rose.
José Martí
Cuban liberator and hero
Posted by: Felix E F Larocca MD | Aug 26, 2008 7:41:19 AM
This is good but why does it remind me of the 'Gift' by Leonard Cohen?
Gift
You tell me that silence
is nearer to peace than poems
but if for my gift
I brought you silence
(for I know silence)
you would say
"This is not silence
this is another poem"
and you would hand it back to me.
-- Leonard Cohen
Posted by: Aimless Wanderer | Aug 26, 2008 10:59:01 PM
Maybe somebody read somebody else. Ideas are like atmosphere, breathed by all.
Posted by: Jim | Aug 27, 2008 7:41:24 AM
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