Wild Strawberry

 

Bad things are going to happen.
Your tomatoes will grow a fungus
and your cat will get run over.
Someone will leave the bag with the ice cream
melting in the car and throw
your blue cashmere sweater in the drier.
Your husband will sleep
with a girl your daughter's age, her breasts spilling
out of her blouse. Or your wife
will remember she's a lesbian
and leave you for the woman next door. The other cat—
the one you never really liked—will contract a disease
that requires you to pry open its feverish mouth
every four hours, for a month.
Your parents will die.
No matter how many vitamins you take,
how much Pilates, you'll lose your keys,
your hair and your memory. If your daughter
doesn't plug her heart
into every live socket she passes,
you'll come home to find your son has emptied
your refrigerator, dragged it to the curb,
and called the used appliance store for a pick up—drug money.
There's a Buddhist story of a woman chased by a tiger.
When she comes to a cliff, she sees a sturdy vine
and climbs halfway down. But there's also a tiger below.
And two mice—one white, one black—scurry out
and begin to gnaw at the vine. At this point
she notices a wild strawberry growing from a crevice.
She looks up, down, at the mice.
Then she eats the strawberry.
So here's the view, the breeze, the pulse
in your throat. Your wallet will be stolen, you'll get fat,
slip on the bathroom tiles of a foreign hotel
and crack your hip. You'll be lonely.
Oh taste how sweet and tart
the red juice is, how the tiny seeds
crunch between your teeth. 

-- "Relax" by Ellen Bass

 

 

Comments

[Flannista]

Many thanks and much love to barista who emailed this poem to me this past Thursday.

[Flannista]

If this ain't a poem about savoring the moment, I don't know what poem is.

[Flannista]

My flight's on time.

Oh, taste how sweet.

[Flannista]

Seated in the plane. Still on time.

Oh, taste how sweet.

[Flannista]

Flight computer not working. Plane returned to gate. Have no idea when and/or if we are taking off.

Ah, the tiger.

[treesta]

Ah, Flann, has the tiger let go yet? Are you on the way home?

[PEACEsista]

Oh my, you and Matiss talked about flights yesterday in the sass. I thought you'd already left. Sorry for the delay and I hope that you are winging your way home now.

I LOVE this poem. It is interesting to see how Bass wove a well-known zen story into her poem. A full realization of the impermanence of absolutely everything and everyone lands us firmly in the present moment. Good or bad, it will not last. Oh, the taste how sweet and tart ...

[Flannista]

I'M HOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMEEEEEE!

[PEACEsista]

Oh taste how sweeeeeet ....

Welcome home.

[treesta]

Yeah!! Enjoy your day!

[Flannista]

Just finished cleaning the Cattie fountain and vacuuming.

Now to pay some bills. Matissta and I plan to see "Silver Linings Playbook" this afternoon and "Zero Dark Thirty" tomorrow. Tonight we are going to see the Bill T. Hones dance troupe.

I'll fit in laundry and packing in there somewhere. I'm off again at 6:15 a.m. this Monday morning.

[Flannista]

This poem had me at the first line. I love it.

[Matissta]

I like that the poem states the possible events in such a matter of fact way. All in stride.

It has a steady rhythm until the Buddist story is referenced. Then for me it switches to a more casual, less anxious pace and back again to the steady rhythm.

A casual & less anxious pace. Truly how we should live in the moment.

[Matissta]

My code thingy was "proxy". Does that mean I'm not "showing up" as I should? Damn.

[Flannista]

Matissta . . . not to worry. You always show up, consistently, steadfastly, selfishly unlike some folks I know who only -- and superficially -- show up just so they can say they did.

[Flannista]

The word in the Code Thingy for my last comment was "civil". Hard to be civil to the folks I described in my last comment.

[treesta]

Don't worry about those folks, Flann. You have so many friends who genuinely show up, day in and day out. Just focus on them. Let go of the rest.

[treesta]

I'm sitting in the theater now to see Silver Linings Playbook. We'll have to compare notes.

[Justista]

If your daughter
doesn't plug her heart
into every live socket she passes

Marvelous

Welcome home, Flann. I want to hear about Silver Linings Playbook. Tomorrow remember that waterboarding did not lead to Bin Laden. Just saying.

[frida]

We are back from Louisiana where there are a lot of tiger. I have a bad cold. But wild strawberries, wild grandsons, wild happiness!

[frida]

Oh and let us know which movies to see...and come on over when I am without a cold!

[Justista]

There are a lot of tigers in Louisiana?

[barista]

I saw Silver Linings Playbook and was quite taken with it...some great performances...not a flawless film but quite good, I thought. Was that Sally Struthers as the mother? Haven't seen her for decades. A great way to come back on the scene.

[Flannista]

Justista -- I think frida may have been referring to metaphorical tigers in Louisiana. There are a lot of those in MouseLand, too.

I liked "Silver Linings Playbook" and would give it a "B". Matissta gave it a "B+". The acting was very, very strong -- not certain what all the fuss is about Jennifer Lawrence, though, in that performance. Jackie Weaver -- not Sally Struthers -- played the mother (though she does uncannily look like Struthers). Weaver is a great Australian actress who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for "Animal Kingdom" in 2011. I thought Robert DiNero was wonderful and that Cooper guy the best of all.

There was something about some of the long tracking shots that bugged me, though. Not sure why.

It is not, in my opinion, the Best Picture of the Year.

[Sista C]

I have several pictures to see before I can give a fully-informed view of what best picture of the year would be. Still haven't seen Zero Dark Thirty, for instance. But so far, among those Ive seen, Lincoln would win for Best Picture.