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Monday 21 May 2018

Poetry Monday: Friendship

It's Poetry Monday, and the topic this week is "friendship."

Join Diane, Delores and me as we offer our takes on this topic. Feel free to leave a poem in the comments on any of our blogs. Or you can post a poem on your own blog; if so, please leave a comment to let us know where to find you.

*****

My poem was inspired by a sign I saw stuck in a neighbourhood lawn. It had been placed there by the local weed control company, to show that a treatment had been completed.

The sign said, "I have a new friend!" with the name of the company underneath. The "I" was meant to refer to the lawn, and the treatment was either fertilizer or weed control. I know this because we used to use a weed control service and those are the two treatments we would get in the spring. We stopped having the service because it was relatively expensive and we kept getting low marks for our mowing, maintenance and pest control efforts. For pity's sake, guys, if you're going to charge us a bundle, at least leave us a compliment once in awhile!

Anyway.

I started imagining what the grass might really say if it was the recipient of a weed control treatment.  I thought it might not be saying "I have a new friend" after all. Especially if it already had plenty of friends.

Suspend your disbelief and read on, my friends.


*****

Friendship Lost

We are the grass; an army of slight soldiers,
Brown in the winter, and
Proud to be the first green of spring.
Today a two-legged being arrived in a
Rumbling, stinky four-wheeled conveyance.
Two-Legger trudged mercilessly upon us, and
Dusted our ranks with a strange substance.
We heard our friends, the dandelions, cry out,
Struggling to breathe.
Alas! They were dead and shrivelled
Before the darkness fell twice.
There was nothing we could do.

Strangely, we are left unharmed.
We vow to take the place of our sunny yellow comrades;
Stand in their spaces;
And in their stead,
Reach for the sun. 






 *****

As an afterthought, I can tell you that our grass and our dandelions are dancing merrily together and do not need to fear anything, ANYTHING, I tell you.

Except maybe the lawn mower . . .  eventually . . .


*****


Embrace your dandelions and have a great week :)



Update: Next week's topic is "what makes us laugh" . . .



 

35 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

Wow.
Such an emotive piece. I love it. And do my very best to avoid poisons. They kill so much more than the intended victims...

LL Cool Joe said...

We use a a weed control service although they don't call themselves that, they are called Greenthumb and they arrive several times a year and walk up and down our garden and then inform it's full of moss or whatever. I'm glad to say we do not got marks on how we look after the lawn!

Oh and every dandelion that dares to appear gets zapped by me with weed killer. :D

Nice poem.

dinthebeast said...

We have at least two different kinds of dandelion, and they have as much of the yard as the grass, usually.
The topic of friendship reminded me of one of my favorite songs, about friendship, by a Welsh band called The Joy Formidable:

"Little Blimp"

Wind yourself
Wind yourself tightly to me
Drag your old self
Nostalgia we’re ready to leave

We’ll ride this
We’ll ride this
Easily
We’ll ride this
We’ll ride this
Surely
Pedal me closer
I promise to never
Look back down

It’s taken time
Two ends are starting to tie
We’ve traded off
It’s friction that’s given us heart

We’ll ride this
We’ll ride this
Easily
We’ll ride this
We’ll ride this
Surely
Pedal me closer
I promise to never
Look back down

We’re not metaphor
We’re not “the ticket”
No token to lull or remind yourself of yourself
Working pretend
It sounds out of place
Wind ourselves, wind ourselves, tighter again

We’ll ride this
We’ll ride this
Easily
We’ll ride this
We’ll ride this
Surely
Pedal me closer
I promise to never
Look back down

They played that song when I saw them with my friend Sara (thank you Sara!) in November of 2015, the first rock concert I went to after my stroke, back when I wasn't sure I would ever get to see another one.

-Doug in Oakland

River said...

I have to admit, I've never thought of friendship from a lawn's point of view.

Unknown said...

I thought i’d never hear anyone write like that about mowing a lawn.

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

Aww, you make me feel sad for the weeds. Spring was so long in getting here, that I was thrilled when I saw the first dandelion.

Anonymous said...

Hello Jenny, Weed control companies are a new one on me. Do you have a lot of weeds over there? Sounds like they are taking over, lol. Seriously any weeds eg clover, dandelions and such-like in the lawns are taken care of by ourselves. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't in which case we buy a different product until we hit on the right one for the job. Dandelion roots are the worst as they go so deep underground.

Anyway, onto this weeks theme -

Friendship

Although we're not blood related,
My friend is a sister to me.
We've known each other for quite a while,
Approximately - since 1973.

When we first met we couldn't tell,
That a close friendship was ours to grow.
As we kept our distance from first sight,
Then somehow similarities began to show.

I've child sat her daughters
And she's dog sat our pet.
We've sat on Centre Court at Wimbledon,
As we watched balls go over the net.

We went across the Channel,
For a day trip to Bordeaux in France.
Returning early morning, stifling yawns,
Grabbing sleep at the very first chance.

We've done so much together,
Helped each other in a spot.
Always trusting, never questioning,
A true friend is what I've got.

It's been thirty years since I saw my friend,
But I still feel a strong sisterly bond.
Even though I'm in Devon
And she's in Sligo across the Irish pond.

I value our friendship,
As she means a lot to me.
I wish I lived a lot closer,
To my friend and 'sister', Lesley.

Have a good week, Jenny.

Joan (Devon)

only slightly confused said...

The grass may think the dandy lions are their friends but given the opportunity those yellow flowers will take over completely and Mr. Grass will be a thing of the past. This is a really cute poem.

Marie Smith said...

We embraced our dandelions years ago now. The yellow is erupting as I write! So much healthier than the chemicals!

Love the poem!

jenny_o said...

You're right, whether they be pesticides or insecticides. There are generally unintended consequences.

The poem was meant to be read with a wink, even though I do love dandelions!

jenny_o said...

I can see you now, goggles, gloves, evil laughter and all, ha ha! :D

jenny_o said...

I imagine that piece is extra special because of the circumstances. Some songs get packed full of meaning, don't they?

Thanks for contributing, Doug.

jenny_o said...

Ha ha! I'm glad it worked, so to speak :)

jenny_o said...

Success! lol

jenny_o said...

That was my reaction, too. Since then, it's been joined by an army . . .

jenny_o said...

I don't know if we have any more weeds than anyone else, but apparently we have people who NEED green lawns :) We are no longer among them. The dandelions don't last long anyway, only a few weeks. And the bees like them!

I love your take on the topic today. I have two friends who have been around a very long time, too. Part of it is shared experiences and part is just getting along so well.

jenny_o said...

I know! Poor Mr. Grass, too :)

jenny_o said...

Erupting is truly the word for this year's crop, isn't it? BAM - yellow everywhere!

Steve Reed said...

I'm a dandelion embracer, too. In fact, I've always wondered how a chemical kills dandelions but leaves grass behind, unharmed? How is that possible? Clearly I need to do some Googling.

jenny_o said...

I took some liberties for my poem. For example, the weed guys used to spot spray our dandelions rather than spray the whole lawn. Also, I think there's some weird thing like the leaves on the dandelions being able to absorb the chemical and the grass not, or something like that.

Um. You probably still need to Google it :)

Martha said...

Very VERY well done! I actually felt all emotional and sorry for the dandelions. We don't use any type of weed control. We just mow the lawn. I actually like dandelions and so do the bees!

e said...

Very creative, Jenny!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Friend Ship

In pairs
They boarded via a rickety gang plank
Occupying hot cabins
And they sailed away
For a year and a day
Eating ship's biscuits
Drinking rum
Taken to the ends of The Earth
And back again.

jenny_o said...

Yay for leaving dandelions for the bees!!

jenny_o said...

Thanks, e :)

jenny_o said...

A completely different take on the word! I like it. Thanks for contributing, YP.

Diane Henders said...

Aw, poor dandelions! Your poem made me sad - I've always thought dandelions were pretty. Too bad our city neighbours didn't agree, but at least in our new place we don't have to worry about what the neighbours think! :-)

Diane Stringam Tolley said...

Finally getting to yesterday's reading! When will life slow down?!
Ahem . . .
Wonderful poem! Now I'm all sad over the poor, dead dandelions! Alas! They lived such a short time!
Well done, my friend!

Diane Stringam Tolley said...

Amazing, YP! I'm loving the different directions this topic has taken all of us!

Diane Stringam Tolley said...

Priceless friendship! Distance doesn't matter!

Diane Stringam Tolley said...

And now I'm picturing two friends and a very special evening! Thank you for this!

jenny_o said...

There are big advantages to country living :)

jenny_o said...

It was dandelionicide, Diane :)

37paddington said...

beautiful ode to friendship, jenny.

jenny_o said...

Thank you, although it was intended a bit tongue-in-cheek :)