Hour 14 – Symbiotic
Symbiotic
the air I breathe out
is breathed in by a plant
the air it breathes out
is breathed in by me
a wheel of air
cycling around
making life possible
In My Garden
When spring comes, I look out at my forsythia bush
and daffodils. A few tulips pop up as do
the chutes of hostas and rhododendron blossoms.
Soon the huckleberries’ create
an intoxicating fragrance that draw the squirrels
and birds. There is nothing like planting peonies
chrysanthemums and impatiens and patting the dark
earth down with your fingertips.
‘In some Native languages the term for plants translates to “those who take care of us.’*
From Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
Use Your Words Like You Used Me (Prompt 8)
Once full paragraphs replaced by cartoon faces
Easy to end a conversation with a heart or a thumbs up
Like your vocabulary has been reduced to one singular motion
There was emotion I held space for
When you needed words I gave you many
Surprising now to receive any
And never deeper than the surface
What’s the purpose of this game and why
Do I feel like I am losing
If you’re not using full sentences
I can only keep guessing
Texting is a sorry substitute for watching the shape your lips made
When they said best friend soulmate maybe wife
I love you – you told me
Yet you’d hold me down as less than
Messages to fill your time
Condescend my bared skin poetry
The loyalty I showed you – I never owed you anything
You can say that we’re still friends but in the end
You send me crumbs to keep me hungry
I’m no stranger to starvation
If there’s expected desperation
You’ll get the same response you give the most
Maybe a shrugging stranger
But probably a ghost
#14 Consequences
We nurtured you,
gave you our very souls,
you are because we are,
Yet you ungrateful wretches
destroy, and kill us without abandon
never pausing to think that the air
you breathe is a gift from us
We treated you like children
and you turned on us
long we have kept quiet
given you chances to redeem yourself
but the time has come to cut the cord
to take a step back and watch you chase your doom
for as we disappear so will you
and won’t that be glorious?
-Prachi S
#18 Lovers
My many lovers were well selected
I regret none of them despite
Failed futures and messy endings
Life lived now with perspective
I am grateful for the journey
Never missing a fine chance
I had each at their best
When hitting their stride
Before settling in or down
I tell older girlfriends they
Missed great men themselves
Fallen prey to judgements
Good girls have few memories
Little sparkle in their eyes
Looking back I’d do them all again
Growth
“It’s just a stupid plant”
Nustled in moist dirt
Sitting in my hands
Reaching for the sunlight
Whispering oxygen into my nose
A sapling
She will outlive us
Her growth quiet and restrained
Tall she will be
Strong and fruitful
Two lovers sit beneath
Carving their love into her trunk
She will shed her leaves
Slinking them off like a silk robe
Twisting her branches in the wind
Stretching
Throughout the seasons she will live
Though parts of her will die
Looking around her she will find no one like her
A single tree in a park
How sad is that?
Harsh weathers will tempt her
Slip into the darkness
She will persist
Kids no longer climb her in an attempt at flying
They disappear altogether
She is sad
But then something miraculous begins
More like her begin to appear
The world has ended but the Earth has not
She begins to grow even more vast
Her friends rushing to catch up
The sky turns a magical shade of violet
The clouds polka dot the sky
New birds appear
They sing happier tunes
Not Just a Dream
Assume the dream!
Wake up!
Question vivid detail!
And when perhaps something more
just happens in our lives,
we have experienced such a time
that most, or perhaps only some of us
will wonder if it was so.
I, at the last decades of my journey,
have dreamed, and know it wasn’t
just a dream.
Bond
I’m still breathing,
Thanks to the freshly assorted vegetables
Beautifying my food and drink.
I’m still breathing because
You enjoy the poison I give out.
You continue to trade oxygen for my CO².
I have no power to stop them
From felling you.
But I thank God that you’re not alone.
I’ll continually bond with your kind.
Hour 14: Hiccups and Rhymes
Hic hic hiccups!
A lot of them too
Won’t won’t stop!
Oh what should I do?
I tried drinking water
Lots and lots of it
Hic hic hiccups
didn’t subside a bit!
I tried stop breathing
In hopes of getting better
Hic hic hiccups
Still continue down to last letter
Hic hic hiccup-
Oh wait.. they stopped now
Maybe I only needed a rhyme
to make it work somehow!
#17 Among You
There are witches in your path
Believers in Earth Wind Fire Air
Knowers of the four directions
Healers artists men women others
We have been here all along
Caring and sharing the gifts
From the Mother hoping
All will listen to save her
Perhaps you feel yourself
Aligned but unsure to connect
Trust this to be true
Join the lovers of this planet
Needed now to act to hear
The children implore us
That our Mother will move
Us off is we do not change