To Live (a Golden Shovel)

---

A Golden Shovel poem inspired by:

“There is only one question. How to love this world?

I think of her rising like a black and leafy ledge

to sharpen her claws against the silence of the trees”

From “Spring” by Mary Oliver

---

To Live

By Monty Vern

There！

Where？Is?

Not! Only

One

Question.

How

To?

No. Why? Love?

Yes! In this

World?

I

Think.

Of

Her?

Yes. Falling in love? No, rising

In love like

A

Black

Pumpernickel. Slow and heavy? Yes. And?

Sprouting like a leafy

Vegetable in a sunny window garden’s ledge.

To

What end? To sharpen

Life’s knife! To feel her

Claws

Against

My skin. To draw out the

Cries from the silence.

To shake every last leaf off of

The

Trees.

---

If you appreciated this golden shovel poem and want to give this creative technique a try, don’t miss the “Get Your Golden Shovel” collaborative project that is ongoing. Click here to link to the current prompt. Enjoy.

---

Be well,

Monty

• Alt-Scenes From This Morning’s WalkJuly 3, 2022
  Be well, Monty
• IdolJuly 2, 2022
  Be well, Monty
• Chic-a-Taup-e-Tan (a Paint Chip Poem)July 2, 2022
  No Love For Fatties invites us to join in on her Paint Chip Poetry by creating our own poem inspired by the paint chip colorsContinue reading “Chic-a-Taup-e-Tan (a Paint Chip Poem)”
• Earth TonesJuly 2, 2022
  Be well, Monty
• Silver Lining June Round-UpJuly 1, 2022
  At the beginning of June I invitated all of you poets (or potential poets, which is all of you) out there to join me inContinue reading “Silver Lining June Round-Up”