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This Grass

this grass, blue
bouteloua gracilis
knows to wait
for the fullness
of mid-summer rain

ear to the ground
my grandmother
waits and listens:
a sibilance
a grunt
the syntax
of survival

holds her
ground, longing
for the warm
rumble of
hooves, hot
sigh of heavy
muzzles, close
cropped
teeth. Still

she dares to
raise her
spikelets, bristling
with desire

hungry for everything
lost

© Candace Savage
Saskatoon and Eastend, Saskatchewan

Photo Credit:

Blue grama seed head, Matt Lavin photo, Wikimedia Commons

Did you know ..

The roots of Blue grama grass, Bouteloua gracilis, can reach out almost half a meter from the crown and push one to two meters below ground. Its leaves and stems provide food for the larvae of at least six species of butterflies

Author: Candace Savage

Candace Savage is the author of more than two dozen books, including Prairie: a Natural History, A Geography of Blood and Strangers in the House. She lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Learn more: www.candacesavage.ca