The Wild Braid - Stanley Kunitz in the Garden

One of our beloved poets on the island was Stanley Kunitz, who lived from 1905-2006.  His garden was, and is, a quiet place of solace, reflection, and meditation.  One of the books I'm reading this spring is The Wild Braid - A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden.  The book contains conversations that he had with Genine Lentine, a "bouquet" of poems, and 26 gorgeous photographs by Marnie Crawford Samuelson.  It is very inspiring to read about a man who had passion for his craft and knew that to get anything done, to plant a native flower and harvest a poem, you have to get your hands dirty and continue to nurture with light and water--each day, each day. 

 photo by Marnie Crawford Samuelson

The Round by Stanley Kunitz

Light splashed this morning
on the shell-pink anemones
swaying on their tall stems;
down blue-spiked veronica
light flowed in rivulets
over the humps of the honeybees;
this morning I saw light kiss
the silk of the roses
in their second flowering,
my late bloomers
flushed with their brandy.
A curious gladness shook me.

So I have shut the doors of my house,
so I have trudged downstairs to my cell,
so I am sitting in semi-dark
hunched over my desk
with nothing for a view
to tempt me
but a bloated compost heap,
steamy old stinkpile,
under my window;
and I pick my notebook up
and I start to read aloud
the still-wet words I scribbled
on the blotted page:
"Light splashed . . ."

I can scarcely wait till tomorrow
when a new life begins for me,
as it does each day,
as it does each day.

 

  photo by Marnie Crawford Samuelson 

  photo by Marnie Crawford Samuelson

 

 photo by Marnie Crawford Samuelson