Planting Beauty

When I was a teen, I was super into Audre Lorde. She was super formative for me. I’d write quotes on the covers of my notebooks, on the thread of my shoes.

One of those quotes is this. And I forgot it for a bit.

I am glad to have remembered. I am glad for Lorde’s bravery and power and strength and vision.

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
― Audre Lorde

A guy on my street planted these mums in the mulch in a tiny corner between sidewalk and building and street. They are so low that they could be easily trampled.

But they aren’t, right?

They are fading. It is late fall in Maine. Some stems are a bit broken, some heads are withered, but the rest of the plant is sort of holding them up.

And there are some buds that might still pop out if the warm weather holds.

That’s remarkable. This guys' thought to buy the plants, his work. His action. Those flowers. The people who sold him the flowers, those that first grew them, going back for so long.

So many people were part of planting those flowers with that man.

That man and others created something that can become. That did become. That reminds people walking by that you can plant beauty in the world, too.

You can plant beauty in the world, too. There is power in that, too.