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Verduous Veritas
“I love it when a flower, or a little tuft of grass, grows
through a crack in the concrete--it is so fucking
heroic.”--George Carlin.
Since the dawn primeval,
Since the dawn primeval,
when the great green canopy
blacked out the sun,
creatures struggling below
flicked their olive tongues,
still wet from licking
the dew off the moss.
I’m here to report
nature’s essence is not red,
it is deep pulsating green,
like sucking the heart
out of green tomatoes,
like penicillin, Islamic flags,
ivy and budding leaves;
or life after death,
tarter on dead teeth,
mold on sun-bleached bones,
or odiferous rot
as flesh and wood and organs
decompose,
and make their way
home,
to the earth’s verdant womb.
I have to suggest
that each of you
needs to seek out
a peaceful glen,
expanses of grass, clover
and buttercups,
then lie on your back,
eyes flashing emerald,
arms wide open to a green sun,
hearts brimming with green fire;
and let the legions tramp by
their silver armor clanking,
their bloody pilum held high,
because even the cockroaches know
that hell and war and greed
ride a raven-black stead,
and are never green.
Glenn Buttkus
Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub
12 comments:
I love how you meander through the "green life" including the return to the green womb, until the end with the cold dead march of the soldiers. GREAT POEM, GLENN.
There is a lot here Glenn, I wonder if there will be a peaceful glen left after the clanking of armor. I am sure the cockroaches will survive and the butterflies will die.
Green is the antithesis of black bloody war. It means life, you're right.
was not sure at first which of the Laurie Lee prose pieces you had chosen as but evidently the first one "I had never been so close to grass before. It towered above me and all around me, each blade tattooed with tiger-skins of sunlight...."
Thank you for participating in the prompt - you have taken it to a supreme level of imaginings - hard hitting and didactic at times yet painted with that calming softness that green brings.
Your words are full of beauty and power Glenn.
I like the idea of green sun and green heart. Green is serene and I'm happy to live where there's plenty of green goodness growing!
Oh that last stanza letting the darkness of war pass in favor of the green... love it.
This is a powerful call, specially with the last 2 stanzas. The green of mother nature trumpts everything else.
Yo dude. What a mind trip! A green-hued helluva write Glenn. Full of super images!
Children know...we spent hours lying in the fields looking up at the sky. A powerful anthem for peace.
I love the way that last stanza feels like reality pinching its way to the surface.
Bold and searing, with evocative images that last!
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