A Way Through
2017
The Philodendron uncoils, boils past space and time in air
I find her stuck in her dance at a horizontal beam there
ferocious in her push, tattooing her way along the wall
sending out feelers like scouts to search a way through
Undaunted vine, giant caterpillar battling a corner for supremacy
blind green hands shoving with the force of a mountain range
silently crushing all resistance from her dreaming heart
Tomorrow and tomorrow, only this.
Hustle of her push, unfurling cusp, rocket thrust
crisis-conquering bionic sword, shoving past all obstacles
soaring inside her insistent green wattage
dispatched to the job of life with a moxie beyond human
Superheroes pale beside this level of authority
For years she’s been a mute gangbuster humming Life! Life!
Sighing softly down the length of her serpent rising body
jungle roar of her will rages through my sleep
to bother my dreams just upstairs as she muscles her way through
Unsleeping rebel hammer set in motion, forever
and I, breathless witness of a task unfolding in sacred sovereignty
whether I watch or not, her kinetic intelligence
beating all obstacles
beating like a heart
She says to the men in suits—This is industry.
to the street-fighting activists—This is subversion.
Who’s unsung might lifts my roof with a single green finger
And I’m thinking about earth protectors
about witches created to speak for the land
and the wall that we shove against is ignorance and governance
arrogance and war, money and the corporate industrial waste society
So I pray for the ceaseless green vehemence of plants
to push in and pollenate our heart-minds and infuse us
with inspiration to keep pushing through every thwarting form
only to insist on Life
that must continue.
back to list