now
shoulder-high
(was a
millimetre
sprout)
on its way
strangled
neighbours
climbed their ruin
monopolised
bribed
pollinators
and cultivator:
fruit is secondary
to ambition.
tender leaves
are
‘let go’
tho
their shrouds
still
shade fruit.
the vine
evolves.
over the lawn
the horizons
come.
Image: Cucumber field, Java, Indonesia, Ikhlasal Amal c/- Flickr. A quadrille – a 44 word poem – for Dverse where Lisa is hosting and asks us to use ‘way’ in our poem.
“Sometimes from this hillside just after sunset
The rim of the sky takes on a tinge
Of the palest green, like the flesh of a cucumber
When you peel it carefully.”
Robert Hass, from Poem with a Cucumber in it, Time and Materials, 2007.
And because I’m thinking green as I’m munching cucumbers, here’s Brian Eno with his album Another Green World from 1975 (yes, really). He probably had an ambitious cucumber vine too.
Peter Frankis writes 
You just reminded me that I need to order cucumber seeds…
LikeLike
Spring is on its way – (recommend ‘lebanese’ cucumber – as entirely mercenary, take no prisoners but lovely in salads 🥒)
LikeLike
Ha! We grow both telegraph and lebanese cucumbers every year. Eat the latter like sweeties!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Uh oh! Sounds a good bit like the Japanese Kudzu vine that tried to take over the South here.
LikeLike
Fresh grown cucumbers sound so yummy right now. (wrote down lebanese variety) I can’t imagine how fragrant it would be to walk through that image but I probably wouldn’t make it out alive! I’ve known a few people where “fruit is secondary to ambition.” The Brian Eno album is really good. I bet you like Vangelis don’t you.
LikeLike
‘fruit is secondary to ambition’ I laughed out loud. Cheers.
LikeLike
Beautiful, “their shrouds still shade fruit” what an awesome line!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cucumbers are delicious and cool, especially in the summer, although I eat them all year round. I love the cucumber shape of this poem, Peter, and the way it grew from millimetre sprout to shoulder-high and took over the neighbourhood.
LikeLike
The encroachment of cultivated, over-fed nature, making its own horizons!
LikeLike
Winter is coming (to this garden, to this hemisphere).
LikeLike
Not yet, surely?
LikeLike
Sounds like an aggressive life form Peter. Sounds like a fella I was in a band with… 🙂
LikeLike
Love the title….and anyone who’s gardened and planted cucumbers, or zuchinni, or pumpkins KNOWS how they sprawl and take over more and more territory! GREAT title for it!
LikeLike
First time gardener (well for a while anyway).
LikeLike
I can almost feel that this is a little bit too much when the vines invade the garden and beyond. I will probably stick with tomatoes and chili.
LikeLike
I’m with you. Watching this amazing vine, I think about global corporations – and naked ambition and take no prisoners approach to competitors. At least the chilies stick to their pots.
LikeLike
you got me thinking of a glass of pims (with cucmber) in the sun watching the pollenators do their thing. thank you for warming me up on a cold and grey evening.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reminds me of wisteria, which will certainly take over lawns and gardens with their tendrils and vines.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep – I had a jasmine like that – eventually I had to take an axe to it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
One summer, we grew cucumbers that took over the yard. Each morning they crept closer.
LikeLiked by 2 people
😀
LikeLike
I’ve never had much luck with cucumbers, other than African horned cucumbers which have prickly vines and big, scary, spiky fruit – they took over the greenhouse a couple of years ago. It was like being in a sci-fi movie set.
LikeLiked by 1 person