I subscribe to a poem-a-day newsletter, Poetry Town, written by George Bilger. Every day George selects a poem he really likes and then writes a short commentary why he chose this poem.
The news coming from the US in the past few days has been horrific. As George says in his commentary, "Talking about flowers is just what we need." But we do need more than to talk about flowers. The broader picture is we need face-to-face connections, the human touch, rather than experiencing life through phone or computer screens. Evil has become content and humanity has become scrollable. We're losing the one thing that makes us human, the ability to feel. I am very aware that the political arena plays a big part in peoples' behaviors and that our members of Congress need to enact some tighter gun control legislation and that's as political as I'm going to get.
So now, We need to talk about flowers 🌸 🌸 🌸 🌸 or other things that brought a bit of happiness to you this week.
I’m gratified by the use of the word “we” In the sentence my neighbor utters quietly As she stands in her driveway, in her yellow raincoat: “We really needed this rain,” A “we” that includes not only a gray-haired White man And a Black woman whose hair is still dark but also Some of the green life we’ve gathered about us: The pin oaks and silver maples, the holly And lilac and dogwood, whose ancestors Did what they could to make a home here Millions of years before our ancestors Walked down the gangway of a steamer from Bremen Or were led in chains from a sailing ship That had left Sierra Leone two months before. We need this rain to remind us we don’t dwell In a desert we have to cross to reach a promised land. Here we are in the land of promises Kept and not kept that we’ve promised ourselves To be concerned with. Look how these trees Are concerning themselves with the rain That the grass is already welcoming With many shades of a deeper green. |
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Why I Chose This Poem
My neighbor two houses down is Black, and a wonderful gardener. Over the twenty years I’ve known him we’ve stood in his front yard countless times, talking about his roses, his perennials, the whimsical border of wildflowers he’s planted along the sidewalk. Not once have we talked about race. Talking about flowers is just what we need. |
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Wow, I love that poem and I love the reason it was chosen. I'm all for talking about flowers and now I'm even glad I posted a flower photo today.
ReplyDeleteYour flower photos are beautiful and brought a smile. Your blog is a bright spot to start my morning.
DeleteI didn't post a flower photo today but I DID post a picture of some brownies I baked. So maybe that could kind of count as a flour photo! 😄
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely perfect!
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