IN HESTER GRAY'S GARDEN
Poetry
by
Philip Styrt
by
Philip Styrt
“Sunbursts and marble halls may be all very well, but there is more ‘scope for imagination’ without them” – Anne of the Island
Imagination is a wildflower;
It cannot grow unless it can grow free.
Ideas that blossom in an autumn shower
If cultivated, wither royally.
Only the bud that peeks between the weeds
Unnoticed by the gardener, will thrive;
The soul will water only scattered seeds:
No artificial bloom is left alive.
The rose that’s cut and boxed may prompt a blush
But fades without the stem it left behind;
The rose internal rests forever lush,
Its roots deep-planted in the loving mind.
Don’t tend imagination with a scythe:
Let it run riot, beautiful and blithe.
The author said this: "I grew up reading L.M. Montgomery religiously, and fondly remember making the pilgrimage to Prince Edward Island as a young boy (though sadly I got chickenpox as soon as I got there).This is a poem inspired by Anne of the Island and particularly the final scene. It is a sonnet, partly because I imagine Anne relishing Old and Glorious forms of language, and partly because we do have some indication in the book that this is the sort of poetry she reads: Roy Gardner, for instance, notices her when she's commenting on Tennyson."
Philip Styrt is an assistant professor of English at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, and his poetry has been published in Glass: A Journal of Poetry (Poets Resist), Sliced Bread, and the Oriel College Record.
Philip Styrt is an assistant professor of English at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, and his poetry has been published in Glass: A Journal of Poetry (Poets Resist), Sliced Bread, and the Oriel College Record.
