Interlude: Sunflower Sutra

Hello friends,

We’’l have the eighth installment in our ‘Intentionality’ series this upcoming Saturday.

Last weekend, I cut the head from my Titan sunflower. I’ve grown many sunflower cultivars, and not all have oversized seed-heavy heads. This season, though, I seeded my first Titan. It thrived, bolted into a thirteen-foot mammoth, then burst into glory until the single, stately flower reached its end. 

After all of the golden petals scattered, I reluctantly cut the head off. I thought as much of interesting black and white photos as the waiting seeds.

The weight and density of the head defies logic; the back looks and sounds and feels like a wax cast sculpture. This is majestic artifact that came into being in less than six months.

Trees take years to achieve this heft of being. Truly deep magic in these creatures.

As the growing season, and its sunflowers, ebb into winter’s nocturne, Ginsberg’s ‘Sunflower Sutra’ wound around in my mind as a celebration for today’s entry. Not until rereading Ginsberg’s poem did I realize what a happy creative coincidence my black and white photo edits were.

Until Saturday.

 

Sutra I 2020 © Julia Haris
Sutra II 2020 © Julia Haris
Sutra III 2020 © Julia Haris

*****

WordPress doesn’t seem to support proper alignment and spacing for much poetry — or at least I can’t figure it.  So to read, or reread, Ginsberg’s ‘Sunflower Sutra.’ click here.

To hear Ginsberg read it, here’s the YouTube video.

 

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