Saturday, April 22, 2017

Poem 22: Georgic in celebration of Earth Day

Prompt:
In honor of Earth Day, I’d like to challenge you to write a georgic. The original georgic poem was written by Virgil, and while it was ostensibly a practical and instructional guide regarding agricultural concerns, it also offers political commentary on the use of land in the wake of war. The georgic was revived by British poets in the eighteenth century, when the use of land was changing both due to the increased use of enlightenment farming techniques and due to political realignments such as the union of England, Scotland, and Wales. 
Your Georgic could be a simple set of instructions on how to grow or care for something, but it could also incorporate larger themes as to how land should be used (or not used), or for what purposes.

*
Arise

 As daffodils and crocus
     nose up
          from cold ground,

jeweled with
     fresh dew,
          examine

the shine and
      shudder
          of slick petals

in a waking wind,
      and add their
           invisible music,

rising
     with the worms
          to the surface

through holes
    in fertilized lawns,
         crumbling sidewalks,

to the relentless
     celebratory hum
           of the earth as it

turns
     again and again
          toward the sun.

Feel your heart's beat
      thrilling
           in that song,

the thrum of your body
      in harmony
           with all beings

everywhere,
     with the pull
          of gravity, with

joyful orbit, as you
     lean forward
          imperceptibly,

pulled up from
     thawing roots
          into expanding air,

and aaaaahhhhh
      -- the trees' sighs,
          their shivering joy
   
as they shake their
     feathered limbs
          over broken streets.



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