Wednesday, October 21, 2009


THE LONG SURPRISE


From an unknown depth it rises, the delight it always is when the garlic first comes up, my surprise no doubt as ancient as the life the garlic holds, that just a week ago I planted in broken-up cloves and went on gardening day-to-day here and there, doing the little winter-readying tasks, until one afternoon I glance down at where there had been only earth, where now are small green tongues pushing up to sample anew this ancient reality, to speak of being, take some nourishment, gain some strength that in us is courage, to push further into days toward the wholeness each contains, every rising life a tiny measure of the long surprise.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

my garlic is also lashing out at the earth now, and like the rest of my garden it's the first time i've planted it, so who knows how it will turn out..garlicy i hope...my soil doesn't drain well, which i hear is bad for garlic, and isn't that healthy to begin with, so who knows...but here's to yumyy, non-chinese 100 yen/japanese 300 yen garlic to us both!

Robert Brady said...

Yo soybean. Yeah, great garlic to us both! I've been building my soil since I moved in, and each year it gets better. Long dialogue, but way worth it. As to the drainage prob, you could try growing on raised beds...