As I reclined on the garden lawn,
my attention was drawn to the bindweed.
I lifted my head with my hands
to see the impulse of the roots.
And knew that in this flight
circled the rhythms of shadows and the flow
of insects in the leaves. Through it
I understood the blessing of a surprise.
I sat up before the wonder
of the organic green curtain.
Its ordered exuberance shook me.
I understood its primitive silence,
its slow, stubborn movement in the dark,
its grave notes, and its enormous escape.

Víctor Manuel Mendiola was born in Mexico City in 1954. In 2003 his collected poems, Tan Oro y Ogro, was published by UNAM, University Press. He is the publisher and editor of Ediciones El Tucán de Virginia.

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