Mushrooms

Sylvia, the movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig introduced me to the poetry of Sylvia Plath. Below, one of her best known poems.

Mushrooms


Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.

Sylvia Plath

Reminiscing

I recently got all my notebooks together in which I have been writing down poems and quotes and things that have made a difference in my life.

One of the notes that I love came from a friend that I met while at Varsity.
It was October 1992 and he was Johan van Rensburg. If I recall correctly he stayed in Hartswater in a house that had speakers in every single room. He loved music and I have recollections of Pink Floyd playing over the speaker in the loo. :-)


He had a saying that I kept and today it has a whole new meaning looking back on my life.

EX HOMEO EST NOVUS OMNIS

Meaning: still waiting for a friend for the correct translation, but basically it means that out of man new things can always be expected.

In afrikaans: Uit die mens altyd iets nuuts.

WOW - Latin is a beautifully rich and deep language.