Notes For The Legend Of Salad Woman
by Michael Ondaatje
Since my wife was born
she must have eaten
the equivalent of two-thirds
of the original garden of Eden.
Not the dripping lush fruit
or the meat in the ribs of animals
but the green salad gardens of that place.
The whole arena of green
would have been eradicated
as if the right filter had been removed
leaving only the skeleton of coarse brightness.
All green ends up eventually
churning in her left cheek.
Her mouth is a laundromat of spinning drowning herbs.
She is never in fields
but is sucking the pith out of grass.
I have noticed the very leaves from flower decorations
grow sparse in their week long performance in our house.
The garden is a dust bowl.
On our last day in Eden as we walked out
she nibbled the leaves at her breasts and crotch.
But there’s none to touch
none to equal
the Chlorophyll Kiss
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Ballade Of The Summer Term poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Eclogue V by Virgil
- Lover’s Gifts XXVIII: I Dreamt by Rabindranath Tagore
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Потоки
- Olney Hymn 54: Love Constraining To Obedience by William Cowper
- I Thank You, Mum by Raj Napal
- The White Road Up Athirt The Hill by William Barnes
- Sonnet 50: How heavy do I journey on the way by William Shakespeare
- What Is Woman But A Song! by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- Forget-me-nots by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Владимир Костров – Не банкира, не детей Арбата
- Sonnet 01
- Ольга Седакова – Вечерняя песня
- Clover by Sidney Lanier
- Владимир Маяковский – Посмотрим сами, покажем им
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).

Michael Ondaatje (b. 1943) is a renowned Canadian author and poet. He is best known for his novel “The English Patient,” which won the Booker Prize and was later adapted into an Academy Award-winning film. Ondaatje’s works often explore themes of identity, memory, and the impact of war. He has received numerous accolades for his contributions to literature and is considered a significant figure in contemporary Canadian literature.