POEMS IN HOLY WEEK iv. Wednesday - Renewal

This poem started from simple observation where so much building work had been done and so much was new and bright - and there in a crack the inevitable tuts of grass finding somewhere, anywhere to have their life.
          I am not sure how this pome fits into the sequence I have started, but I do feel that there are elements in the thought behind the lines which are appropriate for the sort of meditative quality that I am looking for.
          I have consciously used repetition in an almost incantatory way and there are one or two half references which I think add to the suitability for the sequence.

Poems in Holy Week

iv.       Wednesday – Renewal

We share a common need

to surface surfaces;

to be control;

to show we are in charge.

The concrete’s poured and cured;

what once was rough, unkempt

is now polished and plain.

The wind has no obstruction.

The shifting dust finds

purchase hard on

featureless, smooth slabs.

But look at edges,

look at joins where

imperfection, broken tiles,

a crumble, are enough to

garner dirt and make

a plot for grass to live in –

the grass that looks like

ragamuffin’s hair with roots

unruly, thrusting down

right past the toes –

the stuff that can’t

be drawn with easy grasp.

The stuff that thrives

in spite of every effort

to remake what’s there

with what we want

that leaves us wanting

envoi

In irony that art dare not attempt,

the grass is gone

- within a day -

beneath flat plaster

setting well in place.

But I have marked the spot,

and now will wait and

count the days before

futility’s restored.

Reading through the poem again I am impressed by how much I have been seeing over the past few weeks is actually contained in it.  I am not sure that anyone other than myself will see this as a sort of diary, but I can spot lines and link them to days, not only in terms of what I have seen, but also in terms of what I have thought.

And reading through it once more I have made changes that you cannot see because I have replaced the previous version with a new one.  Some of the changes are minor, but I have added an 'envoi' as the site of my observation, which was the basis for the poem has been changed in the last 24 hours, the grass ripped out and new plaster or concrete laid!  At least the poem is bang up to date!