New England
Woodland Garden
Small
hedgehogs broken quills evidence the fact of feline busybodies.
Nigh,
grasshoppers, crickets, besides iridescent beetles, assume liberties
With my new
lettuce, flowering tomatoes, and aging peas. Mere meters
Away, a groundhog
pretends not to be snuffling in the leaf mould of my
Cold compost pile,
else digging toward its assembly of obliging worms.
Mass marketed
hearts, plus heirlooms, alike, fare poorly here, where
Sunshines
less common than brambles, violets, bluebells, also skunk
Cabbage. Hungry
deer, further, freely appraise this buffet which isnt
Ordinary trilliums
or toothwort. Ants, mice, chipmunks, meanwhile,
Help themselves to
seeds barely burst from their shells, not sprouted.
Back indoors,
among footnotes, quotes from primary sources, midst
Other dreary
remnants flagging my graduate student brain, I cogitate
On woodlands,
surrounding boscages, coppices filled with red maple,
Balsam poplar,
white cedar, paper birch, likewise pine, where scarce
Strung rows of
beans, carrots, turnips realize maturity, kitchen tables.
Rather, its
best to keep to baking pumpkin muffins in frosty seasons,
To clearing walks
by shoveling, to waiting for snowplows, to praising
Dates above
freezing. Its Septembers potages, not Marchs radishes
That round the
local seasons. Car batteries, cords of firewood, as well
As leaving
birdseed for chipmunks cull more attention than my squash.
Heeding our
Youngsters Artifacts
That we heed our
youngsters artifacts, like architecture, cookware,
Is easily
substantiated.
Our society
embraces media makers fusillades over rhetoric from
Empowered
folks.
Merely targeting
attention legitimately negotiates other peoples
Experiences.
Interpersonal
peregrinations end poorly when we wont commit
Necessary resources.
If grappling with
beloveds insistent on changing our bath minerals,
Else our herbal
conditioners,
Best, we come to
terms with their cannonades, ignore all products
Meaning of
beauty.
Still, once
discussing matters with golden year felines, conferring
With hounds,
No matter how
mainstream, how important, our kids tenets stick
For eternity.
Sure, well
douse select menu items with cod liver oil, cause
Our scions
To scrub away
their traces of culinary mischief. Afterwards,
Well try to
flee.
Skunk and
Zebra: Interdependence at its Best
(A Prose Poem)
She whuffed while
hoofing at the carrots in her trough. Truly, alfalfa was tastier. Not all
equines like the same food.