my grandmother's garden

 

my grandmother’s garden

 

 

“We are a people. A people do not throw their geniuses away.”

                                                                 —Alice Walker 

 

my grandmother told me

we all proceed from forces

that moved the flowers in her garden

 

flowers listened to her every morning

and sometimes even in the afternoon

 

they had names

and the names gave them personality:

Tuca, Pepa, Daisy (who was a rose), Mila

 

they swayed in wind and opened

their mouths to drink both the morning dew

and my grandmother’s gentle water

 

the conversations seemed

to go on in cosmic soundwaves

and although I tried to find a syllable,

a resonance,  a sound to decode and make

Sense, I never succeeded

 

I once asked what did they say

and my grandmother told me

that they were discussing how

being alive was to strive for existence

 

I remained in awe

 

I am not sure I believe her today

but I do understand that

what makes us human

is the capacity for astonishment

 

 

 

Elidio La Torre Lagares

 

Elidio La Torre Lagares is a poet, educator and author of the well-received poetry book 'Wonderful Wasteland and Other Natural Disasters."