Blade of grass

you ask for a poem

i offer you a blade fo grass

you say it's not enough

you ask for a poem

i sya this blade of grass will do.

it has dressed itself in frost

it's more immediate

than any image of my making.

you say it is not a poem,

it is a blade of grass and grass

is not quite enough

i offer you a blde of grass

you are indignant

you say it is too easy to offer grass

it is absurd

anyone can offer a blade of grass

you ask for a poem

and so i write you a tragedy about

how a blade of grass

becomes more and more difficult to offer,

and about how as you grow older

a blade of grass

becomes more difficult to accept

- brian patten.