Tuesday, March 30, 2010

thinking about gardens and poems


My mother is visiting next month and part of the reason I am so excited for her stay (aside from all the mending and re-sewing of buttons that I have planned for her to do) is that she is going to help me set up my first ever garden. Therefore in preparation, I am reveling in these gorgeous watercolors by Jinn 'n Tonic and reading this book by the poet Stanley Kunitz. Yeah, I know, I probably should be reading up on soil and pest control, but all in due time. Right now I'm just loving this...

from "never trying to explain"
by Stanley Kunitz

"Thinking of a new season in the garden feels different from imagining a new poem. The garden has achieved its form; it doesn't have to be new each year. What it has to do is grow. You're not going to uproot the entire garden and start all over. The poem is always a new creation and aspires to a transcendence that is beyond telling at the moment when you're working on it. You know you are moving into an area you've never explored before and there is a great difference."

(published in Kunitz's last work, "The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden")

1 comment:

  1. Lovely post Vivi.
    In my family my mother still gets the fixing jobs waiting for her on visits to each of her 4 children... even as we all grow older!
    Like the work featured and the stories!
    Enjoy the garden building exercise!
    S

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