{"id":1422,"date":"2015-08-10T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T04:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1422"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:49:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:49:22","slug":"august-10-rutabagas-in-mid-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/08\/10\/august-10-rutabagas-in-mid-august\/","title":{"rendered":"August 10, Rutabagas in mid August"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday August 10 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0\u201cThrough you we eat sunlight\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

I had another poem queued up for today but Laura Grace Weldon\u2019s song to a Rutabaga took my imagination by storm. \u00a0 Your\u2019s too, I hope.<\/div>\n
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Read aloud, more than once, and breathe a little. \u00a0Blessings on the new work week.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
john sj<\/div>\n
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Today\u2019s Post: \u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
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Laura Grace Weldon: “Rutabaga”<\/a><\/h2>\n

Posted by Phyllis Cole-Dai on Aug 08, 2015 12:00 am<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

You darken as my knife slices
blushing at what you become.\u00a0
I save your thick leaves
and purple skin
to feed the cows.\u00a0

A peasant guest at any meal
you agree to hide in fragrant stew
or gleam nakedly
in butter and chives.\u00a0

Though your seeds are tiny\u00a0
you grow with fierce will
grateful for poor soil and dry days,
heave up from the ground\u00a0
under sheltering stalks\u00a0
to sweeten with the frost.

Tonight we take you into our bodies
as if we do you a favor\u2014
letting your molecules
become a higher being,\u00a0
one that knows music and art.\u00a0

But you share with us\u00a0
what makes you a rutabaga.\u00a0
Through you we eat sunlight,
taste the soil\u2019s clamoring mysteries,
gain your seed\u2019s perfect might.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

“Rutabaga” by\u00a0Laura Grace Weldon,<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Tending<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(Aldrich Press, 2013). \u00a9 Laura Grace Weldon. Presented here by poet submission.

Art credit:<\/i>\u00a0“Rutabaga,”<\/a>\u00a0unknown medium, by\u00a0Lara Call Gastinger.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a9 Lara Call Gastinger, 2004.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday August 10 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0\u201cThrough you we eat sunlight\u201d I had another poem queued up for today but Laura Grace Weldon\u2019s song to a Rutabaga took my imagination by storm. \u00a0 Your\u2019s too, I hope. Read aloud, more than once, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1422"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1426,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions\/1426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}