Until Now (Perhaps) (Johnson)

       

               The Goddess is about life                      the all of it

               the ever sprouting                   ever growing          

               ness              --                tender shoot in      

               tended garden               rampant weed that runs

               and runs    and overtakes                    But also    she is about

               the mole         the vole         the cat         the hawk  

               the blood     the fur       that’s left behind so

               ripped          so torn            one cannot say what was

               it                                  She is about life        the equality    

               of dying    ness                   To her    It’s all the same Eden

             

               Rose           and thorn of rose          thistle flower        and thistle

               prick                 fur of mouse          bone of bird            rock

               tree       sky          cliff         gut         glut        the streaming

               stream           and driest dust     --      She does not

               hold one thing more       

               precious        (that’s the job we give to God)                    

               They are       you are       we are          all         

               just skim       just skin      just pulse      until we’re

               not           (not mind        not heart     not flesh)            

              

               She is everywhere                in everything           

               Not cruel                        not kind             

               fecund              indefatigable                        

               

               Praise her

Elsa Johnson was born in Cleveland Ohio in 1943 and has mostly lived here all her life. An undergraduate art and English major, she was mentored by poet Fred Eckman during his years at BGSU (see Over West) in the '60s. Elsa then studied English Literature at the University of Indiana at Bloomington, and taught (briefly) at the University of Akron. Sometime in the '80s Elsa totally switched gears and went off to the Ohio State University to study and receive a Masters degree in landscape architecture, which she has happily practiced ever since. Around 2008 she became friends with poet Sarah Gridley and was returned to the practice of poetry, thus creating a full circle. Her book The Wind Speaks is forthcoming from Austin Macauley Publishers. She hopes to write poetry and create gardens and art for another twenty years.