The passage of the sun across the heavens,
that touches leaf and branch. The ripening
of fruit and tuber, and the grubbing root
through which the sweet sap rises. These are just
some of the things that plants hold dear. The dawn
and sunset that determine day and night,
the spring, the autumn, the long dormancy
of seed beneath the soil, of trunk and branch
left leafless when the snows come. The entire
phenomenon of branching, where the stem
or trunk will bifurcate into the air
with its light freight of leaves whose chlorophyll
supports a living being. All the work
of roots to drive their way out from the seed
to water and to nutrients. The life
that skitters past and eats the fallen seed
or the seed on the branch and ferries it
to a new start. The potting and repotting,
the grafting and the pruning, the entire
process of being is what plants hold dear.
​​
- - -
Fliss: Greetings, John, and welcome to the 11th issue of Well Met! Our mascot Word-Bird and I hope all is well with you today.​
​​​
John: Splendid! Well met to you and Word-Bird. All is well.
​​
F: So, here we are in the company of plants. Perhaps you and I and W.-B. and the WM van have shrunk considerably, so we can all stand among them. Did you have any particular plants in mind while writing the poem?
​​
J: Well, when I think of plants, I tend to think first of trees, then of flowers. All very lovely and busy living their lives. Our shrinking is unexpected! But it is very pleasant to be the height of the plants around us.
​​​​
F: Oh! That’s interesting, John. For some reason my foremost thought of plants is smaller species. Well, let’s return to our usual sizes and find ourselves in a delightful garden featuring many different species. W.-B. has parked up. These certainly are busy lives, and you have an impressive knowledge of the processes involved. Do you have a particular enthusiasm for the subject?
​​
J: Ah, we are back to our usual sizes! That was diverting and the return to normal is pleasant. I am glad to hear that I sound interested in the topic. My dad, who had a pretty encyclopedic mind, once told my mother, “I have no knowledge of botany, nor do I care to.” That is not my position! I find all life on Earth endlessly fascinating, and plants have a particular interest in being so clearly alive and yet so different from animals. I sometimes wonder how much vegetarians have weighed this consideration. My interest in plants may also reflect my wife’s work on apples over the past decade, which has involved a fair bit of botany and gardening.
​​​
F: Of course! The apples! Hooray for Rita’s work! Well, as you know, W.-B. and I are fans of fruits. My own knowledge stems from a small amount of experience, I suppose; there hasn’t been much in the way of study. W.-B. and I wonder about the context of your father’s pronouncement. We’re interested in all life-forms too. Did you grow up in gardens, John, so to speak? What’s your favourite type of tree?
​​​
J: I grew up among trees in the neighborhood and a large yard, as we tend to call gardens in the US, in which we played. My favorite type of tree is perhaps the sycamore, though I am understandably fond of apples as well! Hooray indeed for Rita’s apples and apples in general! Yes, I do recall your fondness for fruits. I’ve not really studied them either, and nor had my father, who was likely getting defensive about his ignorance on the topic, as one does.
​
​F: Yes, I see. Apple trees look particularly pretty in the springtime, with the blossom, pink and white. Sycamores are quite stately, we think; there are a few out at Sudeley Castle, standing tall. When I think of a ‘yard’, a rather industrial picture forms in my mind, so it’s good to know that, in the US, yards can be gardens! Have you spent much time in greenhouses, John? The work of the final stanza takes us to our kitchen greenhouse here.
​​​​
J: I have spent some time in greenhouses, but the potting and repotting is largely what Rita has been doing with her gardening over the past few years, what with our living mostly in flats. Nice to think of your kitchen greenhouse though! Ah, yes, yard has that different meaning in the UK! In the US, we talk of front and back yards, and we had both in my childhood, it was very pretty.
​
F: Yes, W.-B. and I are fond of the kitchen greenhouse here. It’s the most popular area for our insect friends, as well as affording charming garden views! We’re impressed with Rita’s potting and repotting. Overall the poem brings out just how intense plant-work can be. Is it part of an MS?
​
​​​J: The poem is indeed part of a manuscript, my latest, Proper Holiday, which it more or less concludes. I am delighted to hear of your shared fondness for the kitchen greenhouse! Insect friends and garden views are a fine combination. Rita does a considerable amount of potting and repotting through the seasons.​
​​
F: Well, we wish you every success with the manuscript, John! It’s pleasant to pot and repot, and also to enjoy the kitchen greenhouse. Now, meter! This is pent, we think?
​​
J: It is! Thank you, Fliss and W.-B., for the good wishes.
​​​
F: You’re welcome, John. That wraps things up, we think. Good times in the garden!
​​​​
J: Woo-hoo! As W.-B. likes to say, very much so!
​​​​​
- - -​
John Claiborne Isbell is a writer and now-retired professor currently residing in France with his wife Margarita. Their son Aibek lives in California with his wife Stephanie. John’s first book of poetry was Allegro (2018); he also publishes literary criticism, for instance An Outline of Romanticism in the West (2022) and Women Writers in the Romantic Age (April 2025), both available free online. John spent 35 years playing Ultimate Frisbee and finds it difficult not to dive for catches any more!
​
- - -
Hop to…​
David | Gail | Janet | Janice | Mark | Martin | Melissa | Mike | Paul | Steven | Susan | Word-Bird​