Showing posts with label green. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Garden's Greens

spinach leaves bring
a green so deep
it looks like an ominous
sea. genial lettuces

foreground more 
light in green, sometimes
whisper blond secrets.
kale makes us think

of Russia--tough,
green without sheen,
unafraid of invading
weeds, partial 

to hot soup. carrots,
always recalcitrant,
offer delicate floral
tops at this stage,

suggest positive 
orange thinking under
dirt. and potatoes,
dear spuds in their

group effort. plain
green tops as practical
as old bricklayers.
such lumpen, golden

manufacturing occurs
down there in Tuber
World, a dark quiet
factory. peas and beans:

what to say? so madly
manic in their way.
pods leap out overnight,
tendrils reach and entwine

with weird desire,
and, friend, you had 
better be ready with 
bucket. oh, greens

of the garden, we
bless you, we missed you
in Winter's gray dungeon,
dreaming seed dreams. 


hans ostrom 2021

Monday, June 3, 2019

Green of the Herbs

Thyme leaves look like frog
tears. Sage leaves
look fog-green suede.

Mint is a warrior
with shiny emerald shields.
Everything runs from it.

What should we say about
parsley? Such a hard worker.
Then it goes mad and pretends

to be a tree.


hans ostrom 2019

Monday, March 23, 2015

"Please Rate Your User Experience"

He was asked, by a machine, to rate
his user experience. He did not rate it.
He was asked by advertising, government,
and media (which formed a single entity)
to believe what he heard, saw, and read.
He did not comply. He did read
labels on jars. He turned away.

He liked green light in corridors
as well as green corridors well lit.

He rarely mourned the loss of a
narrative thread. He thought
there was a sense in which
plots should be broken.

Where was John? Where
is John? Is his name
really John, or is it Ian
or Juan? Where is anybody?
Is this the . . .? No,
it isn't. Thinking about it,

he thought his user experience
was inconsequential. The rating-system
did not accommodate such thinking.
Meanwhile, he was trying to break
himself from the habit of thinking,
"What is to be done?"


hans ostrom 2015