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Ode To A Cactus

A play on Keats, not with the same poetic structure, though. Just a structure I made up, lol.

By Sutheshna ManiPublished 4 years ago 1 min read
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The mini cactus that sits on my desk.

Looking through Amber's art, I was inspired by this picture, which I realized, was sitting right in front of me.

Ode To A Cactus:

We shed water. It retains water.

It nourishes itself as we dehydrate our minds

We open our hearts. It guards itself with spindles.

It warns unwanted guests as we welcome suffering

That’s when I realized

What sprouted from the Earth

Has always been the most self-sustaining

Needing some love and care, coexisting symbiotically

But without dependency

While we have resorted to thievery, to codependency

To Greed, to neediness

To unending expectations

While we have woken up every day with uncertainty

With Guilt, Shame, and a lithe will to live

This small, green life force with spindles

Inhales, exhales, takes and gives

With no desire to overtake

With no desire to undercut

But just to exist as the tiniest piece of the largest jigsaw puzzle

A corkscrew in the machinery

That keeps us breathing, that has kept us in existence

With only the request

That we nourish her once a month

nature poetry
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About the Creator

Sutheshna Mani

Freelance copywriter & social media manager by day, thespian by night. The shortened version of my name: Suthe (Soo-thee).

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