My favourite poem #5

My sister and I picked up this poem in drama class in high school and got hooked on it. We repeated it over and over again to each other and to my brother. It drove him insane. Honestly, sometimes we just said it to him to aggravate him, not a very nice thing to do to a little brother, now that i think about it. But his reaction was always just so amusing.

A Blade of Grass, Brian Patten

You ask for a poem.

I offer you a blade of grass.

You say it is not good enough.

You ask for a poem.

I say this blade of grass will do.

It has dressed itself in frost,

It is more immediate

Than any image of my making.

You say it is not a poem,

It is a blade of grass and grass

Is not quite good enough.

I offer you a blade of grass.

You are indignant.

You say it is too easy to offer grass.

It is absurd.

Anyone can offer a blade of grass.

You ask for a poem.

And so I write you a tragedy about

How a blade of grass

Becomes more and more difficult to offer,

And about how as you grow older

A blade of grass

Becomes more difficult to accept.