lichen

there will be
a forgetting to move.
a little of the shawl

with amnesia -

a little withdrawn
from the earth-wide,
to a pocket

of cotton waste.
with wanderlust still:
hung afray

as a wild goat

spawning trimbles...
where knuckled wood never
looked so fine

as cashmere before.

Author's Note

a poem about lichen

Reviews

[red93]

This is Fabulous Lara, and yr Piece puts me in mind of the late great John Wyndham's Sci-Fi Novel 'Trouble With Lichen'.

Btw do you really live in Greenland 😁 How interesting ✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

[Michael Sun Bear]

I love that this site brings together people from all over the world. I just noticed you live in Greenland, a place I have only visited through cinema. I am wondering to what extent your landscape and mythology shapes your poetry which I find expansive, almost mystical and magical. This specific poem reminds me of my young years of hiking in our mountains here, pausing to rest on lichen dressed boulders to eat a little and enjoy the view. And we have wild goats in some areas. Lovely poem Lara!

[Lara]

Hi, sun bear. I do hope you are well of late.

Lichen is quite the curio. And survivor: not quite one thing or another, and grows in all climates. Universality becomes it well ✨️

[R J Askew]

Nothing like a medallion of lichen on a roof tile. It hangs around for centuries, minding its own business and offending no one. I'm all for 'forgetting to move' now and then. I'm now thinking of lichen having a fit of wanderlust perhaps, fantasising about being a wild goat even. 'Trimbles' totally spun me around. I had to go and look it up, but am still spinning. Cashmere puts me in mind of, alas, a recent moth infestation. Lichen never does that kind of thing.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

For some crazy reason, I related like this. I remember my mom in her furs and always wondered why that was such a big deal...Let's kill animals to be stylish...never got that.
wildlife gets bare so we can put on air and wrap dead minks around ourselves...when just an ordinary jacket would keep us warm enough.
This one really got me going on a tangent...sorry.
j.

[Paul Michael Kelly]

I read; once, then a second time, then another, and I feel the brittleness of old age surrounding me, and the weight of too much history, and not enough future.

[Thomas W Case]

I love this. You create a mood here that is hard for me to explain. You paint this vibe with vivid colors.