Gardening with Elders

From Permaculture, a Beginners Guide 
by Graham Burnett via Wikimedia Commons

Gardens require manure they said

and bought in loads of dung.

They gloved their hands to shovel it

with joy that's still unsung.

We watched the plants grow strong and stout

with fruits to brag about—

None weakened by neglect or drought

tall corn to little sprout.

Just turning soil is not enough

though plants resilient be—

it’s how soil grows and changes

that makes its people free.

 For my prompt Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Resilience

My blog poems are rough drafts.  

Please respect my copyright.

© 2016 Susan L. Chast

Commitment

Woman at the Window, Salvador Dali (c1926)

I promise to show up

in whole, not with parts faded

(the ones I still have)

like torn tee shirts in the sun

or bad reception on a radio.

I promise to show up

in focus, not with sensations shut off

(those I still have)

and not stretched or melted

like Salvador Dali’s clocks.

I promise to show up

in spirit, not dulled

by lack of use

like lighters that won’t spark

or bushels of unlit candles.

I promise to show up.

For Sumana's Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Commitment

My blog poems are rough drafts. 

Please respect my copyright.

© 2016 Susan L. Chast

Merciful Presence: a sonnet

Source

Like cats, the grass and flowers scramble for

attention—spotting my sneakers with green

and dewing my white socks.  Look at me, they

threaten, or I will tick you off!  I fear

ticks more than damp mornings, so pay tribute

outward, admire the day’s wet webs and toys

and see the birds I hear above the limbs

of trees. Intent on noticing them, I

forget the poems I haven’t finished

and dreams and threats and schemes until

I am enjoying prayer in open air—

pure communion rather than direct address—

and find a presence I could not have guessed:

nature’s refreshment without mind’s duress.

Inspired by Richard Rohr's 

Twelve-Step Spirituality: Week 1 Summary

especially its "Practice: Letting Go and Letting God"
and posted at Poets United Poetry Pantry #305.

Part of the series Oh, Ye of Little Faith*

My blog poems are rough drafts. 

Please respect my copyright.

© 2016 Susan L. Chast

Poetry

The Leaves of Hermes’ Sacred Tree

If it is alchemy,

then arrangement

of phrase, motif and sound

will turn its dross

into assets, assets

into riches

and riches into worded

truths as if pearls

of wisdom raised from

ordinary sand.

But if not alchemy,

it’s playful tone,

inquisitive motif

and readiness for

surprising mysteries

might in themselves

be rare golden treasure

and faithfulness

enough to encounter

revelation.

The way is secret

or there is no way,

but poets seek

alchemy anyway—

try formulas 

and conjure up new memes

to saturate

our creations with gold.

A  sonnet for my prompt 

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Secrecy

My blog poems are rough drafts. 

Please respect my copyright.

© 2016 Susan L. Chast