Don't Try

Don't try not to try.
Effort is a faint breath
dismantling the chrysanthemum,
whirling the slivers away
to stem nakedness, 
hollow as gold.
What sort of practice is that?
Who was trying?
The bright doomed petals?
The September breeze?
Let your effort flower,
fail and fall
into laughter and tears,
a compost of calamities
where you might discover priceless
ancient jewels of imperfection
sprouting from your
grandmother's bones.
The way morning glories
entangle a gravestone.
The way an abandoned quarry
becomes the rookery of a thousand herons.
Ask a mushroom why
it grows in the dark.
Use grief mulch for orchids of joy.
Let chaos sting you awake
and decay caress you
with mycelium fingers
of unanticipated beauty.
Dance in the ruins of your discipline.
Don't try not to try.

 

Photo by Steve Axford

No comments: