Elena

“There are two ways by which the spirit of a culture may be shriveled. In the first—the Orwellian—culture becomes a prison. In the second—the Huxleyan—culture becomes a burlesque. No”
― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

“This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open —
pools of lace,
white and pink —
and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away

to their dark, underground cities —
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding

all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again —
beauty the brave, the exemplary,

blazing open.
Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?”
― Mary Oliver

“And many students can't go a week without a savory cheese tart they call a 'pizza'....”
― Rupert Holmes, Murder Your Employer

“waking up"
in a dream, your mother's garden flourishes
and she smiles and never knows the taste of rot

in a dream, you take god off the shelf, shake the dirt from his shoulders
he's smaller than he once was. you no longer tremble.

in a dream, kindness dances off your tongue
genuine, golden, graceful
your silicone heart beating a song from your sister's piano
you see the world through rosewater eyes

in a dream, the greenest shoot sprouts from the ash
how wonderful it is
that some things still believe in resurrection
that some things refuse to be destroyed.”
― E. P.