Grout is the mysterious element of making mosaics.  Grout can unite the pieces or make them stand apart.  The word Grout may come from the Old English “gruta” meaning coarse meal, a kind of porridge.  Grout fills in the spaces, as if a sustaining porridge, yet has no adhesive quality in and of itself.  Grout obscures the surface when applied, but then helps reveal the ultimate beauty of the glass.  Grout is why I spend so much time in hardware stores.  Grout is the fuel of my friend Joanne, The Grout Monster, who loves to grout as a healing process of playing in the mud.  Joanne is in the middle of her 2012 Poet Laureate of Montgomery County program, and for the month of April, National Poetry Month, I give a shout out to Joanne Leva, Grout Monster and poet extraordinaire.