The bonsai tree
in the attractive pot
could have grown eighty feet tall
on the side of a mountain
till split by lightning.
But a gardener
carefully pruned it.
It is nine inches high.
Every day as he
whittles back the branches
the gardener croons,
It is your nature
to be small and cozy,
domestic and weak;
how lucky, little tree,
to have a pot to grow in.
With living creatures
one must begin very early
to dwarf their growth:
the bound feet,
the crippled brain,
the hair in curlers,
the hands you
love to touch.
(Marge Piercy)
More Poetry from Marge Piercy:
Marge Piercy Poems based on Topics: Nature, Mind, Hair, Fate & Destiny, Brain- Belly Good (Marge Piercy Poems)
- Always Unsuitable (Marge Piercy Poems)
- Winter Promises (Marge Piercy Poems)
- Barbie Doll (Marge Piercy Poems)
- The Morning Half-Life Blues (Marge Piercy Poems)
- To Be of Use (Marge Piercy Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Mind Poems, Nature Poems, Fate & Destiny Poems, Hair Poems, Brain PoemsBased on Keywords: attractive, eighty, crippled, cozy, pruned, dwarf, croons, curlers, whittles, bonsai
- The Wild Knight (Gilbert Keith Chesterton Poems)
- Mogg Megone - Part I. (John Greenleaf Whittier Poems)
- A Story Of Plantagenet (Nora Pembroke Poems)
- Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind. In Three Cantos. - Canto I. (Matthew Prior Poems)
- Birdofredum Sawin; Esq., To Mr. Hosea Biglow (2) (James Russell Lowell Poems)