A poem by Marianne Moore
Posted in poetry on August 4th, 2008 by hk
NEVERTHELESS
you’ve seen a strawberry
that’s had a struggle; yet
was, where the fragments met,
a hedgehog or a star-
fish for the multitude
of seeds. What better food
than apple-seeds–the fruit
within the fruit–locked in
like counter-curved twin
hazel-nuts? Frost that kills
the little rubber-plant-
leaves of kok-saghyz-stalks, can’t
harm the roots; they still grow
in frozen ground. Once where
there was a prickly-pear-
leaf clinging to barbed wire,
a root shot down to grow
in earth two feet below;
as carrots form mandrakes
or a ram’s-horn root some-
times. Victory won’t come
to me unless I go
to it; a grape-tendril
ties a knot in knots till
knotted thirty times,–so
the bound twig that’s under-
gone and over-gone, can’t stir.
The weak overcomes its
menace, the strong over-
comes itself. What is there
like fortitude! What sap
went through that little thread
to make the cherry red!
I’ve always had a book of Marianne Moore’s poems in my studio. It’s been buried in a box since I moved and I found it again recently. I’ve used this book as a brush before and the evidence of the horizon blue color I used is still there… Unlike any other color, the sky blue, that delicate light, warm blue (I think Constable nailed it!) ages so beautifully. The yellowing of paint over time doesn’t diminish the intensity of the color but rather adds warmth. Well, I needed “nevertheless” today.
(-_-)hk