I wrote this poem, “Journey” away from home but thinking of it, this past weekend when we were staying for the first time overnight at our daughter’s house. Now we are back, in the place we first arrived in April of 1996, in the place where I feel more rooted than anywhere else on earth.
Traveling has its attractions, its benefits. It is most valuable, though, when one can return to the place journeyed from and see home afresh against the memory of other places. Below the poem are two snapshots from recent trips to Wisconsin in the past few days and, last, an image greeting us when we arrived home yesterday–something we planted years ago, blooming like never before, and a second poem, inspired by roots.
Journey Michigan—Wisconsin—Minnesota. My life’s stone has skipped over a great lake, over the mightiest river, to land, plonk! in the middle of this green prairie. Spring evenings bring the smell of manure freshly ladled onto the farmers’ fields just outside of town. You just get used to it, think of growing corn instead of sewers. Close to the house, flowering everywhere, sturdy Siberian scilla paint green grass over with washes of tiny blooms, starry, sky-blue. It’s as if a glacial lake had wandered, in flowing miniature, into the garden, swallowed its center, claimed this part-acre of river hill, swirling here where I am planted, where I bloom. Leslie Schultz
Thank you for your company on this month-long journey through April. Wishing you joy in the season ahead,
LESLIE
Advice from a Snake Lily for Ann Wilson Lacy Don’t despair. I was thrust into dark earth like an upside-down lightbulb, like a bad idea. Grub-white, I was covered by thin, brown paper no one wanted to read. Relax. I was shunned for a long, cold season but I did not cry. I dreamed my involuted dreams of sturdy roots and leaves greener than money. Wait. I was not seduced by January thaws or hurried by nudging earthworms. I waited until my cue. Warmed awake, that is when I knew. I made my entrance by inches. No strip tease. An emergence. In your moment, do not doubt. This is my moment in the sun, my chance to wave checkerboard blooms like flags urging spring to race forward. I am not bright. I do not rise very high, yet some who see me gasp in charmed delight. You must dive up into the world before you can dazzle it— before you can leap into who you really are. Leslie Schultz (2017; included in Concertina)
Thank you for your comments, all month long, dear Beth!
hThese two poems are magnificent. I love the skipped stone and the part acre, the way a stink becomes an aroma with familiarity. Just fabulous. I remember parts of Advice from a Snake Lily and am glad to have a chance to read it again rather unexpectedly.
A beauty-filled month of words and images. Thank you
Hi Jeanie,
Oh, I am glad! Wishing you a wonderful summer & and here’s to the next time our paths cross!
Leslie
Thank you Leslie for a delightful month of poetry and art. You gave me so much to think about and so much to be grateful for!!
Thank you for keeping me company this month, Liz, as a writer and as a reader. Yes, here’s to new poems and new books as they self-sow!
Two gems, Leslie! It’s true — there’s no place like home, especially when on the road. The Snake Lily reminds me of the Lady Slipper (only freckled) It was illegal to pick them in New Hampshire (which made them all the more irresistible, of course.) It’s been a treat to read you again during “our month.” Cannot wait to get your new book! Write on!