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No Photosynthesis Occurs
by
Patricia Williams


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I remember eating white asparagus
at a sidewalk café
in the shadow of Cologne Cathedral
on an amiable day in June.

This seasonal ivory treat,
topped with sun-colored hollandaise sauce,
tastes best in the company of friends,
with glasses of pale German wine.

Recipe:
To cultivate white asparagus,
bury the shoots in dirt as they grow,
allow no exposure to sunlight.
 
Use the same process to produce
sterile, non-permeable minds.

                             
This poem first appeared in Plum Tree Tavern (July 2015).
Used here with permission.

 


Patricia Williams and her husband live in central Wisconsin amid farm fields and abundant wildlife. She began writing poetry after retiring from 32 years of teaching Art and Design. Poetry, she feels, is painting with words, both using the same design principles. Patricia's work appears in many journals and anthologies, and she is the author of The Port Side of Shadows, a poetry chapbook about her travels, and Midwest Medley: Places & People, Wild Things & Weather, which received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association. Her most recent book is Rejection to Acceptance: 57 Poems That Finally Made It, a collection of poems with commentary. All of the poems in the book were eventually published, but were initially rejected--three, four, even five times. "It's the old theme of ...If at first you don't succeed," says Patricia. "I am a determined (stubborn!) person."

         



Post New Comment:
Wilda Morris:
Well, just when I thought it wasn't such a great poem in the third stanza, you threw me for a loop and changed my mind!
Posted 06/16/2022 12:07 PM
Lori Levy:
Great ending to a beautiful poem.
Posted 06/12/2022 01:03 PM
cork:
There is no ambiguity here as the words clarify the comparison. I have two asparagus spears that will grow into ferns. I hope young minds do the same.
Posted 06/12/2022 10:18 AM
forrsher2:
Well, perhaps this process is not good for growing minds, but the pale asparagus surely left an impression that I can taste today!
Posted 06/12/2022 08:50 AM
Angela:
The sparseness of the poem has such a huge impact!
Posted 06/12/2022 08:25 AM


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