{"id":1658,"date":"2012-07-24T14:48:33","date_gmt":"2012-07-24T18:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stlydias.org\/blog\/?p=1658"},"modified":"2012-07-24T14:48:33","modified_gmt":"2012-07-24T18:48:33","slug":"poem-with-a-cucumber-in-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/poem-with-a-cucumber-in-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Poem With A Cucumber In It"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sometimes from this hillside just after sunset<\/div>\n
The rim of the sky takes on a tinge<\/div>\n
Of the palest green, like the flesh of a cucumber<\/div>\n
When you peel it carefully.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Crete once, in the summer,<\/div>\n
When it was still hot at midnight,<\/div>\n
We sat in a taverna by the water<\/div>\n
Watching the squid boats rocking in the moonlight,<\/div>\n
Drinking retsina and eating salads<\/div>\n
Of cool, chopped cucumber and yogurt and a little dill.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A hint of salt, something like starch, something<\/div>\n
Like an attar of grasses or green leaves<\/div>\n
On the tongue is the tongue<\/div>\n
And the cucumber<\/strong><\/div>\n
Evolving toward each other.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since cumbersome is a word,<\/div>\n
Cumber must have been a word,<\/div>\n
Lost to us now, and even then,<\/div>\n
For a person feeling encumbered,<\/div>\n
It must have felt orderly and right-minded<\/div>\n
To stand at a sink and slice a cucumber.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you think I am going to make<\/div>\n
A sexual joke in this poem,<\/div>\n
you are mistaken.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the old torment of the earth<\/div>\n
When the fires were cooling and disposing themselves<\/div>\n
Into granite and limestone and serpentine and shale,<\/div>\n
It is possible to imagine that, under yellowish chemical clouds,<\/div>\n
The molten froth, having burned long enough,<\/div>\n
Was already dreaming of release,<\/div>\n
And that the dream, dimly<\/div>\n
But with increasing distinctness, took the form<\/div>\n
Of water, and that it was then, still more dimly, that it imagined<\/div>\n
The dark green skin and opal green flesh of cucumbers.<\/p>\n

-Read in honor of the St. Lydia’s Enough for Everyone Garden at St. Lydia’s on July 22, 2012<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes from this hillside just after sunset The rim of the sky takes on a tinge Of the palest green, like the flesh of a cucumber When you peel it carefully.   *   In Crete once, in the summer, When it was still hot at midnight, We sat in a taverna by the water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1658"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1660,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658\/revisions\/1660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}