an Ode to Dirt by Sharon Olds

Dear dirt, I am sorry I slighted you,

I thought that you were only the background

for the leading characters—the plants

and animals and human animals.

It’s as if I had loved only the stars

and not the sky which gave them space

in which to shine. Subtle, various,

sensitive, you are the skin of our terrain,

you’re our democracy. When I understood

I had never honored you as a living

equal, I was ashamed of myself,

as if I had not recognized

a character who looked so different from me,

but now I can see us all, made of the

same basic materials—

cousins of that first exploding from nothing—

in our intricate equation together. O dirt,

help us find ways to serve your life,

you who have brought us forth, and fed us,

and who at the end will take us in

and rotate with us, and wobble, and orbit.

~Sharon Olds

(1947 to pres., Poet, 2013 Pulitzer Prize)

Well, thank you for that.

It's interesting to listen to Sharon read her poetry. There's a video of her from 2014 reading her (and others) poetry. What a remarkably gentle person. When she had finished reading on that occasion, she took questions. To one of them asking about her teaching, Sharon replied, "I feel such gratitude whenever I can be useful to anyone for anything."

~~~I suppose a bit like Permies.