Rhubarb people

No one is interested in heirloom rhubarb, if there is such a thing. Rhubarb is itself: Rhubarb. Those who like it: do. Those who don't: don't. It's a little like brussels sprouts... another thing the heirloom market has not caught on to. Good thing, I say.

I used to receive

Catalogs in the mail,

Now it is emails:

Heirloom seeds to grow:

Heirloom tomatoes

Miniature cucumbers

No one on my block

Has ever grown.

I have not planted a garden

In three years.

I leave it to the perennials

To show themselves

Or not;

The volunteer bee balm

That arrived

Last year.

The rhubarb comes up

Every year

Demands to be harvested,

Given away

To rhubarb people.

Rhubarb people

Are not easy to determine

They are the ones

Hidden under the rhubarb leaves.

When I harvest

There they are

Waiting.

Persimmon

None of us had ever had a persimmon, so we bought one.

The taste of the persimmon

Was sweet.

It dried out

The backs of all my teeth.

We each described it in different ways.

I am not interested

In eating another one

Ripe

Or over-ripe.

My teeth still

Feel it

One day later.

The sweetness

Has gone.

When I let it out to breathe ordinary air

I have begun reading Awaken Your Senses: Exercises for Exploring the Wonder of God by J. Brent Bill and Beth A. Booram.  They are offering a contest and a challenge for the next five weeks.  This week involves paying attention to how the sense of taste enables a deeper understanding of God.  Join them and me this week. http://holyordinary.blogspot.com/2012/02/taste-sense-of-week.html   I understand there are prizes.  Prizes are good (and fun).  This also seems a good pre-Lenten activity.

Many of us  

OK, I*ll admit it,

I

All too often

Engage in the practice

Of disconnection

From the world

From God

From self.

I am good at it.

When many of us

OK

I

Have everything beautifully ordered

In my head

It usually enters chaos

When I let it out to breathe

Ordinary air.

It goes from tightly ordered

Beautiful

Recognizable

To anything but ordinary.

Connection swirls it around to be something

I barely recognize

When I let it out to breathe

Ordinary air

There is no telling

What might happen.