Over the last week as I drive and walk I see daylilys along the roadsides, in ditches, or garden beds. To me they signal summer. They also make me think of my mother. She liked to pick a single blossom and stick it in a cup. It seemed like a flower brought into the house created its own vibration. My mother taught me about the art of everyday things–the ritual of plates on the table, the flowers in the cup, a plant on the window sill, the child in the playground, quick words on a page, and always a sunset to be seen. All were part of the poetic correspondence of everyday things. The daylily was a thing to draw and a thing to celebrate.
![](https://www.catherinewhite.com/roughideas/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/12-summer-24-1024x662.jpg)
I Wanted Music
I wanted music yes
but I also wanted the music
of everyday things
a plate an arm some dirt a chair
how a plant is related to a window
how a window is related to a chair
small words with purpose
correspondences
of everyday things
the music of combustible objects
one day ending
not tracking for posterity
but loosening like a fig
--Sarah Ruhl in Max Ritvo and Sarah Ruhl, Letters From Max: A Poet, A Teacher, A Friendship, Milkweed Editions, 2019
One reply on “#12 summer shards”
Oh Cathrine, I so enjoyed your words and those of Sarah Ruhl AND the exquisite photo. I was about to pick a lily yesterday, growing along an ordinary wire fence. She clearly was the Queen of her surrounding, and knowing that lilies do not live long in containers when cut I let her continue to reign her immediate „queendom“.
Thank you, Cathrine, for your daily delightful messages. Hope to see/visit you soon. Be well Marga