an infinite future
of hatchlings, buds, saplings –
the footpaths, mulch, pebbles
of the infinite past
=
the coherence of cloud
the fluency of wind
the articulation
of a chaffinch’s song
=
the movements of still things –
streams, soil, ferns in the breeze;
the stillness of moving things –
falling leaves, clouds, hours
=
where the slope of the hill
grows suddenly gradual –
where the slope of the hill
grows suddenly acute
=
the green leaves on the branch
the dead leaves on the ground
the dead leaves on the branch
the green leaves on the ground
Sign in to Granta.com.
Top Reads 2020
Qualities of Earth
‘The slutty ingenuity of vegetables when it comes to desire and reproductive methods is a marvel.’
Rebecca May Johnson negotiates allotment culture.
The Second Career of Michael Riegels
‘Globalisation is incomplete: money can go anywhere, but laws cannot.’
Oliver Bullough on one of Britain’s most contested outposts: the British Virgin Islands.
Learning to Sing
‘You discover during your very first lessons that the problem of singing better involves overcoming many other problems you had not ever imagined.’
A new story from Lydia Davis.
Ogadinma
‘She began to count; it was easier this way, counting, because she would not have to remember how she felt.’
An excerpt from Ukamaka Olisakwe’s Ogadinma.
I, Minotaur
‘Like any desert, I learn myself by what’s desired of me—
and I am demoned by those desires.’
From Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz.
