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Vernal On Sunday





My calendar says it is the 15th day of the 3rd month of the 15th year of the 21st century, a specificity that should focus a mind to the present point.

My head says, is this Sunday? Possibly it is…

No real decisions are made but we find ourselves stalking the moorlands with a sharp wind and a shovel. 
We heft a small sack of horse poo half a mile or so, a circular route, back to the car. Unburdened then up Cox Tor, all the way to the panorama and the full push of wind. We hide for a while in the dip of a rock nest. Dog wags patiently.

We climb down over knolls of buried stone; matted in grass, it reminds me of sloth hair and giant knucklebones. Gargantuan knuckle dragging sloth monsters slumbering under our feet.

In every pool, ladles of frogspawn, rich bubbles of life. 
Even here, where the vegetation is dwarfed by harsh weathering, there is succulence in this waking season.
The sloths will be dreaming of warming sun.

We sit in the car, heater on; we are eating ice cream, rubbing Dog-steam from the windows to watch crow birds hop.

At home, time has flown.

Roast dinner cooks, getting ready to grease hungry lips.

We raise a bamboo arch for future beans.

Dog has gravy on her biscuits then sleeps, then wakes herself with dream twitches.
We laugh and we are so greedy today, we bake pudding.

The day seems plated up, a glut after winter.
Spring is here: we feel it, as though it were in our very blood, in each cell, renewed, this capacity for enrapture.







Comments

Dixie@dcrelief said…
You have ice cream, and the best scarecrow. Who could ask for more? Lovely descriptions!
15 March 2015 at 22:36
Geo. said…
"We climb down over knolls of buried stone..." It's been years since I read a phrase so fine. Have I mentioned you are remarkable?
16 March 2015 at 02:55
Lisa Southard said…
More of the same, that's what we ask for- and are grateful for of course :-) Thank you Dixie!
16 March 2015 at 11:09
Lisa Southard said…
You may mention this as often as you like :-)
Appreciation is the finest of wages.
Thank you Geo.
16 March 2015 at 11:15
Suze said…
I'm with the sloths in dreaming. Fer sure.

Squidman gave me the heads up that you'd asked after me. Have been Lent to the gods for a season. You, I see, have continued to be your reliable, intrepid poetess self. Only better? I think you are improving. Like--dare I say it--wine. You are a phenomenal human being whose words leave wondrous tracks on my soul.

All love,
-Me

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxo
18 March 2015 at 18:26
Suze said…
High praise from Master G.
18 March 2015 at 18:26
The Armchair Squid said…
I love the word vernal. Vernal equinox is one of the finest word combinations in our language.

You're gardening. That means spring is coming, right? Please say yes.
19 March 2015 at 02:06
Lisa Southard said…
It's a relief to hear from you- like 'oh, that's better, balance is restored' sort of better. I hope the gods are looking after you. And now, all this praise to live up to- but I do love a challenge!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
20 March 2015 at 23:40
Lisa Southard said…
Vernal equinox, new moon and a partial eclipse all happened today. It's been one of those weeks.
Me and my garden agree- spring is coming! :-)
20 March 2015 at 23:43
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