Xmas Over

[eridani]

The young fir in the back of the car
was silent, didn't admire the scenery,
took up residence without comment
in the high field near the old apple,
trading a two-foot pot for the Columbia Gorge.
When the wind came up, the branches
said Ssshhh to it, but the trunk and roots
were taciturn, and will be
a hundred years from now, perhaps.
Where the glass bubbles and colored lights
were, will be rain, and owls.
It won't hear carols sung again.
But then, it never listened.

--Ursula K LeGuin (1982)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Very nice, my dear eridani...

Captures the feeling of Christmas being over, indeed...

Thanks for sharing...

[Zanzobar]

2. I hate it when crops are romanticized.

[Hissyspit]

4. "It never listened to the carols anyway" is romanticizing?

Seems mostly an argument for live ball Christmas trees instead of cut ones. Very practical, actually. As the daughter or an anthopologist, her work deals with the relationship between humans and nature.

[Tunkamerica]

5. and dragons

right? am i remembering that right? dragons?

[Hissyspit]

6. She crossed genres.

But I was mainly referring to the poem in the OP. The poem is anti-anthropomorphizing and the poster to whom I was responding seems to think otherwise. The theme of the poem seems to be anti-romantic to me.

[bread_and_roses]

8. No - I believe you are thinking of Ann McCaffery

The "Dragonrider" series (sorry, I don't recall the titles). They are great fun, but LeGuin is - imho - a far deeper writer.

[Tunkamerica]

10. you're probably right, my dad had all types of sci-fi and fantasy; i get them confused.

[LiberalEsto]

11. LeGuin had dragons in the Earthsea trilogy

Incredible dragons, in fact.

[bread_and_roses]

13. I'm sure you are right - many years since I read them

and while I remember the themes and the enjoyment, I do not recall all the details.

[bread_and_roses]

9. Oh for goddess sake - poets use all the natural world

- think of how much is packed into a phrase like - oh, say "the alien corn" for one that just popped into my head, although it is from the bible, and not from a "poem" per se. Or Wordsworth's "Daffodils" for a well-known one, though I am not much for Wordsworth or that particular poem.

[tabatha]

3. Love that.

This is what I read in a book by Linda Runyon.

"Many was the time I ploughed through snow drifts looking for meadowsweet, maple and beech twigs, and succulent fresh pine needles. Pine provides the energy to go on. Save every bit of your Christmas tree for pine tea if it has not been sprayed or dyed a darker green."

[bread_and_roses]

7. I am a great admirer of LeGuin

The title of one of her short novels sounds like a poem to me: "The Word for World is Forest." I have read "The Dispossessed" many times and always feel that I learn, or relearn, something important when I do. The "Earthsea" Trilogy is quite wonderful, both for young readers and for adults. And for a mind-blowing examination of gender, "The Left Hand of Darkness" (another title that sounds like a poem in one line).

Thanks for posting that - I have not read much of her poetry. It is quite lovely.

[LWolf]

14. I got to attend a book reading and conversation with her a couple of years ago.

I'd always been a fan of her books, but I walked out of that gathering incredibly impressed with her as a scholar and a human being, as well.

[bread_and_roses]

15. ah, i envy you that

i would love to hear her. Glad you had the opportunity.

[Brickbat]

12. K&R for a quote from my union sister!