Meditative Weekend of Poetry: Geoffrey Nutter
On the spectrum of the earth’s inanimate objects,
the ocean is surely the closest to the art of flower arranging,
where the silk-covered wire is used to make toy dragon-flies;
and it is the biggest, too,
the most maternal,
the one that bestows a consciousness on sunset.
It has a child named Earth,
and another called Death,
and like all mothers it favor neither one
nor the other.
(Adapted and Excerpted from “The Almost Summer” Washington Square Review Fall 2018 #42)
(Suggestions: Try this: procure some sidewalk chalk and find a place in your city or town that will not become upset if you write on its pavement; however, a place that people will frequent. Perhaps a town square, although a church parking lot would be ideal. Write out Mr. Nutter’s poem in the morning, return later in the day to see if it has been altered. If not, add drawings of the following characters in the poem: “Earth”, “Death” and “the ocean”. Correspond the characters drawn to the line in the poem you deem most appropriate to them. Sit near your creation and note any observers of it.)
