Friday 8 August 2008

In the Garden

The garden path has become impassable through lack of use. I spend an afternoon hacking away nettles and overhanging branches, but I leave flowers for bees and let bramble linger in the hope of autumn fruit. If not for us, then for blackbirds and hoverflies. I cut back stubborn weeds but not too much:

behind
overgrown buttercups -
harvest spiders.

(You can read more about our garden path here)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is beautiful. Aesthetic unity in that the poem was a reflection of the image which represented an idea. So at the end I was left in a different state of mind from when I began. You have tagged this one haiku, Juliet. I would have tagged it antihaiku but either way it is a wonderfully onomatoeic poem thingy miracle of communication,

Crafty Green Poet said...

Thanks Paul, I also tagged it haibun which is what it is, and there's a haiku in it.... I always see antihaiku as unique to you....

Anonymous said...

Really lovely. I like the pause of expectation.

d. moll, l.ac. said...

Not a word wasted, a lovely Haibun!

AscenderRisesAbove said...

antihaiku... that is new to me.
it reminds me of a book I just read; the people are trying to weed the garden and planting flowers here and there but when they return the planted flowers have been moved or new ones placed in their place. It is the spirits who originally planted the garden who are doing it and the people doing the weeding are resentful as they feel a slave to the spirits on the other side; as other then the weeding the effort to assert themselves in the garden goes to waste

polona said...

i think i would love to walk through this gardeen...

RG said...

The spirits are forever at work in my back yard! I think they are fond of wild blackberry! Nice writing ...

Geraldine said...

Gardens are a powerful force. They have a 'mind' and being all their own. You've captured this very well. Sometimes, it's interesting to look at a overgrown garden and see all the work in progress.

www.mypoeticpath.wordpress.com

jack sender said...

what a fine pursuit.

Anonymous said...

I love the simplicity of this, Juliet. Sounds like a good day in the garden to me.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of my own plantings around the house.

this is my patch said...

I've revisited your garden path. You have quite a job on your hands with the upkeep of this. Just a pity there isn't more like you who appreciate its very existence. x

Crafty Green Poet said...

hi there gardenpath, luckily there are other people interested in the communal area. i think my partner and I can keep the path under control enough that it remains passable and then leave it with minimal management, just some wild flower plantings and gentle trimming to make a nice habitat for spiders etc...