Poetry: "Inspirational Foliage" Posted Mar-04-2007
Found Poem!
I've penned and tapped out many pieces of writing over the years that I'd like to canonize on my Creative Slush journal/workshop Web site, unfortunately, some of them have been lost to time and computer hard drive crashes. Pre-computer writings have evaporated into thin air and a handful of papers I wrote in college are buried on (most likely corrupted) dusty floppy disks that may or may not fit into modern* computer hard drives.

Lost pieces of writing are like children separated from their parents, orphaned creations with unknown existences in the world. "Did I give it to someone who might still have it tucked away in a stack of old letters?" To tell you the truth, I've lost track of who's been gifted with my presents of prose (and I say that as ego-less as possible). Plus, people don't keep stuff forever, especially when relationships evolve and sentiments scatter.

The point --> When a lost piece of writing is found, it's a joyous occasion. And with joyful glee I share this found poem I wrote several years ago titled "Inspirational Foliage".

By the way, that's another area that perturbs me... when I was younger and didn't think I was a writer, I didn't sign and date my creative work either. I also didn't think that information would be important one day, such as today when I'm trying to figure out where I was in my life when I wrote this piece.

Here we go:

Inspirational Foliage

By Chris Dunmire

If you are searching for meaning in life
In hopes of overcoming burden and strife
Stop briefly for a moment or two
And look at this plant, it'll give you a clue.

A mere seedling is how it began
Sown upon soil mixed with some sand
Sunshine and soil have made it complete
And gently it grows — oh wow, what a feat!

The roots have grown deep in the soil of time
Pushing through rocks and other sublime
Winds have blown strong and weathered it too
And insects have chewed the leaves through and through!

But look at the wonder the plant wants to give
Despite all it's gone through — it just wants to live!
It's a symbol life, of what we must live through
Then you realize... this plant's just like you! •

* The term Modern ranges from 6 months to one year from the last model.

© 2007 Chris Dunmire www.chrisdunmire.com. All rights reserved.