I wrote the following after a tango poetry lecture by Maria Olivera, as hosted by SOTango, who, after an enlightening and comprehensive overview of the history of tango lyrics, charged us with writing our own tangos. I took this to mean it should have nostalgia, or at least feelings of any kind, for a place. My yard, and the things that go on in it, definitely cause me many different types of emotion, and it was the first place to come to mind that evokes feelings, because I know it very well. After I submitted it, they put it up on a picture of some outside space, and sent it out to their email list as well as published it on their private facebook group. Obviously I don’t have that link because one of the hazards of deleting your facebook account is having to experience the sharing of your work through the eyes of trusted friends. Nor is there a permalink to the email that was sent out but the words below are the same ones I submitted to the hosts of the lecture. I haven’t seen any other tangos by other attendees; I really hope I wasn’t the only one to submit a piece.
In the garden of chaos
Anything grows: dandelion, marshmallow,
I even found some mugwort today.
Throw the seeds down in late winter
And be surprised in late spring.
Cut the catnip down in fall
And find her wandering
across the yard by summer.
It’s not land that’s “mine”
But I know it, and therefore love it
Because love is noticing
And I sit for hours in the chaos garden
Day after day noticing buds,
Praying mantids and bees.
And the land knows me;
I feed her blood and tears
To keep the permanent chemicals out.
But still, Order finds her
And a wayward weed whacker
Might sever her clover or lemon balm
If I’m not fast enough to stop
The unthinking machines.