Tag Archives: gardening

AUTUMN IS IN THE AIR

Acrylic on canvass, self-portrait, louise Annarino

Cold air is heavier.

Its density 

has a propensity

to hold us in place,

inside,

asleep.

It is enough

to make one weep

who loves the heat.

I welcome it

for its cooling property, 

its innate ability

to calm and soothe

the painful reality

of an overheated,

seemingly defeated,

world once at peace.

Oh, it was but a brief

moment in time

when hope was alive

and the country thrived,

and nations strived

to help democracy

overcome autocracy.

But, I digress

under great stress.

Cold air is weighted

with shards of ice

torn loose from northern fields,

with such power to wield

that it weighs down sunrise,

to no one’s surprise.

It puts the worker bees to sleep.

They awaken inside flowers

lacking the power

to find their way to their hives.

Cold air makes dreams

more difficult to bear,

their messages too heavily aware

of all the world’s problems

fair and unfair.

Autumn is here

and the world bows down

under the new weight.

Winter is not far away.

I cannot wait!

As sun rises the only sound

is the song of geese southward bound.

I place the heating pad round

a sore back from bending down

to plant bulbs squirrels have already found.

Soon, snow will coat the frozen ground.

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CICADAS

Photo by Talha Resitoglu on Pexels.com

Cicadas are singing an age-old announcement.

In six weeks the first frost will replace,

at least for some small time and space,

humid-heavy heated air 

and gasps for breath

with a cool-crisp 

galloping pronouncement

that Summer passes over to Autumn

all responsibility 

to foster human civility.

It has been a tough time this summer.

Climate change disordered earth’s coasts

with rising oceans and in-land flows,

a drenched earth policy

to point out the fallacy

of carbon overload.

Fire’s rages grow stronger.

We cannot ignore any longer

the impact of humanity

which seems to clasp insanity

as an entitled mother-load

to wealth and power.

Greed has become

the man of the hour.

while most of us simply strive

to find someway to survive.

The earth belongs to all, not some.

With stately haste Winter comes.

We have little faith Winter will grace

the earth with a surcease of worry.

Worry mounts with each snow flurry.

Earth shall eventually find balance.

Hopefully, we shall earn similar allowance.

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MONARCHS

Photo by Cindy Gustafson on Pexels.com

The monarchs are back

after an arduous journey

from, of all places, Mexico.

Monarchs will leave, eventually.

We now have a monarch in D.C.

who also road in over Mexico.

Unlike the butterfly

which sips nectar and gathers pollen

to leave the garden better and intact,

the D.C. monarch calls flowers weeds

in his obstinate refusal to face facts

and cuts every bloom in the garden back.

He leaves the soil once rich and black

lie fallow so the garden cannot grow back.

This monarch guards his new wasteland

that those who come to take his place

can plant their own seeds

of power and greed.

The monarch will leave as all men must

beneath the weight of soil, and those who lust

for power will take his place in the dead of winter,

and amidst the death of democracy inter

our constitutional republic.

Gardens need much more than monarchs to thrive.

It takes great effort to keep freedom alive.

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WEEDS

Photo by Marta Nogueira on Pexels.com

I love every root and branch

and bud and leaf and flower

holding tight potential

of their power

to change the earth

to a thing of beauty.

I even love the weeds,

especially the weeds

who grow between the cracks

in spaces where it seems

all nourishment and bounty lacks.

Weeds like me who do not match

the temper of the garden crowded

with well-trained and tended

seedlings following the garden pattern.

Such weeds seek light despite

the darkness hidden from view

which holds them tight

as they struggle and wage war

against the forces of cement

paving the way for others meant

to get ahead and reach their goal.

Weed’s only goal is to survive.

And yet weeds seem to thrive

when droughts abound

and heavy rains drown

roots tenderly planted

by those in charge

killing gardens which once delighted

and now appear blighted.

Weeds persist as they resist

the easy way, no easy prey

for those who grow bouquets

not for their own intrinsic value,

but to pick and tie with ribbon

that they may tie down the recipient

to whom they are given,

happy not to have to

deal with weeds.

Weeds are stronger than they.

Weeds survive the darkest days.

A world without weeds

would be a sorry place, indeed.

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REPLANTING DEMOCRACY

Leonoras Widow’s Tears, from Breck’s bulbs, planted 4-24-2025

The Holland roots arrived today.

They still need to soak

before I can plant them

deep enough to grow.

What Leonora’s tears will bring

to the garden yet this Spring,

I do not yet know.

The soil is as dark as ever.

This is no reason to fear.

It does not mean it lacks

the ability to accept seeds that grow

into new ideas, new joys, new hopes

beyond our current capacity to know

what wonders in freedom’s garden

will seek light, grow upright and glow

amid the new plantings we start today,

across new paths and waterways,

across neighbors’ fields 

on new roads and byways

joining the others we already know.

Together we continue to sow

new seeds of freedom, perhaps hybridized

alongside the naturalized and native plants

that make our yards, our streets,

our neighborhoods, our nation states,

our very planet come alive again

in even more fruitful and beautiful ways.

I plant with hope this day and every day.

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NOT QUITE SILENT

Photo by Karl Byron on Pexels.com

I listened for the voice today.

This is all it had to say. 

My teacup is filled only 1/3 of the way.

Too little water to boil in the pot.

I shall brew my tea and keep it very hot. 

Then add cooler water to the cup.

No harbor will see tea fill it up.

Not exactly as I had willed.

Seeing my beloved democracy killed.

But who am I your will to sway.

My cup does not “filleth over” this cold day.

The half-empty cup seems a blatant warning.

I refuse to name and bring to life

fearfully expected wounds and strife.

The sun blares and cuts the cold air,

melting frost gathered everywhere.

It lies on every surface it seems.

In schoolrooms, libraries, museums,

in corporation and university board rooms. Next,

on airwaves  and in chat rooms and texts. 

In law firms hallowed conference rooms,

and in SCOTUS decisions which seal our doom.

Hard to find a place where the cruelty of iced hearts 

has not settled in, stopping hopefulness at its start.

Hard to know how this day should begin.

Hard to see how we might win.

No birds gather in the yard to eat, drink and sing.

Worms like words stretch frozen on cement pathways.

Hard to stand and walk boldly, or to see our way.

May will bring flowers in graceful bouquets.

But, June, I think, will have the final say.

May summer be full of grace, I pray.

I listened longingly for the hopeful voice today.

But, this…this is all it had to say,

as I watch sunshine melt the frost away.

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DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

photo by W. Melvin, April 2025

Time Springs forward

dragging darkness 

behind the lines

sketched on icy nights,

chilled by winds of change

blowing against the heat of sunlight,

marching tentatively 

amid the raindrops

on hardened feet,

with tender hearts,

and fretful minds.

Where will this end?

wonder insects, birds and bees.

Will flowers and gardens of delight

ever bloom in peace again ?

Books, plays, trans, 

people of color and women,

Jews and Muslims banned.

Libraries and museums shuttered.

Voice of America and PBS silenced ?

Knowledge buried with past misdeeds

and hidden gems of wisdom covered

by the mulch of indifference and lies. 

How fast time flies

while truth is shattered and put asunder.

Forgotten history betrayed and bended,

despite our promise, “Never again!” has ended.

Now is the time to save the light.

Daily, now, again and again.

Spring into the light and fight.

Again and again and again

until the darkest days of winter

are overcome by a freedom summer’s light.

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THE BOOT

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Pexels.com

Bodies tell stories.

The boot is on the right foot.

It lifts up the right side.

It tilts the body left.

The left leg shortened,

for a short while;

long enough for the right 

heel to heal the heil.

The right heel steals balance.

The right heal steals my right

to take walks, plant seeds,

to talk with ease, laugh aloud.

The right heel pains me,

isolates me,

leaves me motionless.

Soon, the boot will be off.

Therapy will begin to complete

the healing needed to stop

the pain in the heel, and heal the heil.

The extra weight will be lifted.

Both feet will balance the gait

of a body ready to move forward,

beyond the lies, beyond the hate.

Time to heal, if patience allows.

I ask so little it seems;

and yet, too much for now.

Now, when words destroy bonds

formed from shared adversity,

in fear of diversity and loss of power.

I stumble through the day, booted

by the weight of the jack boot

on a leg that has born too much weight

of too much fear, too heavy a hate.

And still, despite the added weight

and uneven gait, I march on,

in my own, stilted way,

on this President’s,

not King’s,

Day.

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GARDENERS LOVE NOT HATE

Photo by Andrew Neel on Pexels.com

Gardeners know they are not always going to succeed.

They depend on undependable forces to meet the garden’s need.

Too much or too little rain interferes with their success.

Too high or too low a wind can create great distress.

Too soft or too hard an animal’s tread

can destroy an entire garden bed.

Gardeners are not well kept.

Covered in mud or drenched by errant hoses,

they kneel on dirt and scrub off mulch from shredded gloves.

They look like weeds themselves

as they hoe and  and bag the uncomfortable drudge.

They know the garden they view serves as judge.

There are no debates in gardens. 

Debates serve no purpose for the gardener.

Only those who watch and stand aside and wait

feel free to judge the gardener’s flair.

They judge the gardener while breathing in fragrant air

the plants have cleaned.

They judge the gardener while relaxing on paths

the gardener’s feet have cleared.

They judge the gardener while eating crops

the gardener grew in fertile raised beds.

They stay clean while the gardener struggles to remain

on tired feet mired in mud so deep he moves more slow

at a pace they complain is way too slow.

And yet, the gardener in his wisdom carries on

to feed the spirits and bodies of those who watch his work

and share in the bounty of his grace.

Could they even try to keep apace

with the many tasks a gardener must face?

Joe, you have made our garden grow

into a thing of beauty because of all you know.

I know you cannot always compete with liars who berate

your efforts while they stand and smirk with hate.

You may not always look good these trying days.

But, you are beautiful to me in every way.

Stay in the garden of truth where weariness darkens night

and may not be pretty, but grows a garden of delight.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Pexels.com Four years later. Time for a repeat.





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THE THIEF

Photo by Rodolfo Quiru00f3s on Pexels.com

Chronic pain is a thief 

which stalks every bone and muscle

including the skull and brain

locking the flow across every sinew

of blood’s strength to reign

with ease and grace

across interstitial space.

Legs and pelvis lock in place

and the body can no longer race

along the path around the ponds.

Knees can no longer bend

to rest upon the earth and pull the weeds

nor plant the seeds

where the garden should grow.

Pain even steals words from where they reside 

within the brain’s locked space

where dreams can no longer take hold

since sleep is stolen leaving behind

only grief and disgust at losses too great to abide.

The theft is its worst upon the face

where smiles are forced to hide

behind grimaces and half-closed eyes.

Laughter is the only relief to frozen space.

A sense of humor is the fiercer power

relieving pain hour after hour.

The deeper the laugh the looser the lock

that pain has placed upon the body clock.

Time passes with the pain as laughs invade

the place where pain thought to remain.

Laugh at pain and watch it rush,

pushed away by jokes and a comic crush.

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