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WHERE THE WORDS GROW OUT OF LUST

“The Ancients believed plants sprang, not from seeds, but out of the lust of the earth. There were no weeds then, nor at Walden, for the definition of a weed is a plant growing where it is not wanted, and the lowest plantain is succulent and has its virtues, meadows make the best gardens. Poetry is the imaginary furrow where the words grow, out of lust. We come on each one anew, and name it, but savor the dandelions in our grasses.” -- Ronald Johnson, describing his poetics, in “The Young American Poets,” ed. Paul Carroll, 1968.