Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito, CA
Having evolved from grass
our eyes seesaw green,
go chartreuse into hazel, umber
edged by saffron and dun.
At home our kids
guzzle cloudbursts of milk,
thicken in spurts, at school
wave their arms to become
fields of windblown wheat,
trusting they have the answer,
something of the fluid plant
that enables each of us
to yield, acquiesce without
indignation, be it clippers,
pesticides, the implacable herd...
Most of who we are
does not blaze or spangle,
rarely scatters a redolent brume.
From grass it's understood
what matters most is not
showing off but showing up,
breaching what we can--
asphalt, gravel, brick,
one among so many, this
our constant work and harder.
--Thom Ward, from "Various Orbits," c. 2004
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