"the best things in life are mud" (the Bad Poetry Series)

Mud is earth and water, earth and water gives life to plants, and plants give life to all other life-forms.

This life-form sprang from mud, and in mud he will go. Until he's old, he'll play in mud, and mud will feed his soul.

Go grab a handful of mud and plant a tiny seed. A bean, a pea, a cherry tree; and mark it with a stick.

Then watch it grow and weed it so. And eat it when it's done. And tell the world about your seed, and give them all some mud. 

So they might plant a tiny seed, a bean, a pea, a cherry tree, and with their life-form watch it grow, until they're old, and more.

this poem was loosely inspired by a Loving Spoonful project I've been photographing since last year. It is called GROW, and it entails planting vegetable gardens in Kingston schools. Children get involved in the growing process, from painting the fence around the garden, to planting the seeds, watering, and harvesting. At harvest time, they make a salad or a slaw, and the entire class enjoys a green feast.

Here are a couple of photos from Rideau Heights Public School's GROW project:

for additional artistic inspiration about nurturing the earth, please check out Uno's Garden, by Graeme Base, perhaps the most influential children's book of all time (in our family).