September 2023 - Now Ripening at the Frog Pond: Crops That Feed the Soul

Basho knew it. Wordsworth knew it. Hopkins and Dickinson knew it, too. Mary Oliver definitely knew it: Poetry is nature given language. It is breath and vowels ripening on the tongue. Indeed, September presents a metaphorical harvest of poetic inspiration on the farm.

And, as this month’s poem suggests, artistic inspiration turned to very real, three-dimensional installations of metal, wood, stone, and more abound on the farm this fall, as well.

For more information about “The Stuff of Dreams” Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit 2023 (now through October 8th) featuring the artists from Artisans Asylum Boston, click here Sculpture Walk. For a pumpkin-spiced dose of poetic whimsy, simply read on…

Now Ripening at the Frog Pond: Crops That Feed the Soul

by Georgia Sassen

What is this farm

that grows sculpture, and poems?

Over here is a field of haiku;

be careful where you step,

they’re very small.

And that’s the grove of sestinas.

See how regular they are?

Over here are two orchards of sonnets.

The Petrarchan ripen first;

down there are the Shakespearean.

See how their leaves

rhyme?

We need the trellises to hold up

free verse:

it doesn’t have its own structure, you see,

but taste the sweet variety of its forms!

And down by the pond, the dam is shored up

by a modern form poetry: it’s concrete!

In the woods and by the house are the sculptures,

but I don’t know that much about those.

You could ask the sculptor.

I think she’s in the orchard, firing up the tractor.

And wander down there -

that’s the vineyard of villanelles.

Look how the first leaves and the third leaves

alternate, but at the end they come together.

Come together! Let us gather

in the kitchen of the farm house.

The list of poems

are on the refrigerator.

Georgia Sassen is a poet living in Harvard, Mass., where she is inspired to write and paint by the nature around her. She continues to practice psychotherapy, where she is inspired by the resilience of human nature. “Now Ripening at the Frog Pond: Crops That Feed the Soul” originally appeared in the chapbook, half a peck.