Jody's Notes
Romanticism was complicated. As a movement, I mean. As a body of thought. And we're still living with some of its dogmas--that what's natural is good, for example. Because, after all, that was a pretty new idea in the 19th century. Romans never thought anything like that. Neither did ancient Greeks. (Horror to ancient Greeks was doing something to annoy a god, and that god turning you into something natural in revenge--like an animal.) Medieval Christians certainly didn't think that either. And maybe it isn't true, you know? Because maybe plants really aren't all that innocent. (If you watch them closely, I mean.)
The tame prongs: signs
on the sweetened fork
of a violent ancestry. We too:
we wash our hands now before eating,
use napkins, eschew bones. Once
upon a time, we sang during dinner
because we had to, because the
half-eaten still had ears we needed to soothe.
We are in transition now: we envy
the mild ways of plants, the peaceful
feast of mushrooms on the recently dead.
the simultaneous aspiration of flower
towards heaven, the roots still,
in place, kindly feeding.
© 2010 Jody Azzouni