D. A. Prince
Writing Just About Parsley
Where to begin? in an east window
and midsummer sun spilling across the sill
and gawky parsley with its trail of stems,
their faintness drawn under green translucence?
There is so much irrelevance: the kitchen -
which you will furnish yourself, however directed –
written over with kettle flex, coffee stains,
skirting boards scrawled with lumpy neglect;
light making its own business, cutting new shadows
round teapot, toaster, bread bin, the clutter
of what should be cupboarded - yellowed Pyrex
for cooking, a jug from the awkward top shelf;
the window itself, replacing
earlier replacements, and double-locked; how
it draws the parsley close to the glass, facing
the impossible tangle of the garden;
even the silence pleading under its breath,
the radio on standby, humming in time
to the clock - clocks - hidden plumbing,
a settling of bubbles in the drain.
Where to begin? seed packets fanned
like playing cards, promising this year, next year,
echoing how we scattered daisy petals?
(He loves me, he loves me not. Win some, lose some.)
or planting, the sudden right day, pressing
energy into earth, fitting the small pots
to comfortable corners, the house ley-lines,
hot water pipes the cats dowsed all through winter?
No nearer truth, the barely leaves are tasting
light, first time afloat, however, wherever you see them.
7.30 a.m., the 21st of June.
This year it's flat-leaf; you need to know that.
Page(s) 50-51
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