strawbanana smoothie
(strawberries: from our garden, frozen
bananas: brought in brown and yellow-skinned
by a visitor from st. louis)
so thick we use spoons to consume
_______
something akin to cats
bringing people dead mice
i store a bucket of dandelion roots
in a shady spot for darien
_______
emory slithering forward in the grass
like combat training but benign/cute
butterfly net in his right hand
_______
darien sings/names john henry
as i speed up to him
hoeing closed the potato furrows
while he tosses manure
small scoop over each potato
speed-racing
down the row
_______
tossing/heaving forkfuls of hay
into garden cart
how my body and its muscles
(pitchfork in hands)
are an echo of my dad’s body and muscles
those summers he worked shirtless
heaving hay from field to wagon
_______
turkey vulture swooping in circles
above the hoop house whose plastic
has been newly tightened
_______
autumn olive wine
on butcher block
in a clear bottle and corked
6pm spring light (golden hour, or just before)
moving through
_______
the texture/fluff/shape of emory’s hair
(something between a dandelion puff
and sheepdog fur)
while he spins out
from the swing-chain-twist windup
stomach on swing
feet and face dangling down
_______
honna constructs bee wings in carbondale
out of gossamer and hanger wire
while i lounge tired-bodied
leaning into the phone
her voice rolling in through the ear piece
_______
from the water world:
A Ukrainian Orthodox priest sprays holy water on believers before an Easter service in the eastern Ukrainian town of Slaviansk. – REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Devotees are doused with water as they lie on a road during a ritual while worshipping Sheetala Mata, the Hindu goddess of smallpox, during the Sheetala Puja in Kolkata April 19, 2014. During the Puja, women fast for the whole day to pray for the betterment of their family and society. – REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri