when the leaves are purple like that
i think they need potassium
put some potash on ’em, yknow
and when they’re yellow
they need nitrogen
trish says about the sometimes stunted
sometimes purple-leafed broccoli
in four varieties (fiesta, solstice, green sprouting and waltham)
as we pluck the small plants
from the wooden flats and drop them
into trowel-dug holes
in south garden, beds 18 and 19
_______
two inches is the space
we leave between the carrots as we thin
(leaving the volunteer dill to
grow on the edges of the beds)
and four inches for the beets
_______
such a sweet family trish says
of umbelliferaes
after i ask what family
dill is in
(same family as carrots, parsnips, parsley, cilantro, celery, fennel, and so on)
_______
mo and i unweaving
the fabric of last year’s maypole
how the color reveals itself
as something other than sunbleached
when we lift back the layers
whose long locks
hang mane-like
in our hands
_______
cynthia whipping past on the riding mower
mow-town mondays
as she calls it
in her dark hoodie and sunglasses
on looking tough as hell
as she wheels and rolls along
i can’t tell if it’s frightening she says
or fun
_______
when something is funny baigz says
how you stretch it out,
keep running with it,
make it sparkley
_______
even though i begin at two and dinner
isn’t until six i find myself
racing the clock still
to get it all done
(it all includes:
•grinding the flour
then sifting it
then making the dough
then letting it sit and kneading it and
turning it onto small spheres and pressing the spheres out
(first in tortilla press and then with a rolling pin),
cutting them in half and tracing water along their edges
before turning them into a cone i hold in one hand
while i fill it with the samosa filling with the other
and then crimp the edges and poke with a fork
•harvesting the parsley, cilantro, wild garlic
and combining these in the blender
with vinegar, miso, etc to make
green goddess dressing
•scrubbing the potatoes
then chopping them
then cooking them in boiling water
•cooking the garbanzos and
then sauteeing them in coconut oil and soy sauce
•cooking the rice then cooking it again
in milk with maple and salt and
ground chai spices plus saffron
•toasting the pecans
•chopping the ends off of the asparagus
tossing the asparagus in oil
then laying them on pans and tossing them
in the oven
•cooking the defrosted peas/peppers
and then chopping and adding in the greens
•toasting the whole spices (cumin, peppercorn, clove) and then
grinding them after they cool
then tossing them into the skillet
with oil and the potatoes and veggies
and sauteeing
•washing the cooking dishes
which, for a meal like this,
seems to be most of the dishes in the kitchen)
______
you need a picture of you in a shirt i tell baigz
that says ‘my body, my choice’
with you throwing up your middle fingers and us
flanking you like ‘what’
_______
settling in the saddle of that tree
i say to mo about the
copper coin of the setting sun
landing in the crotch of
a peach tree in the backyard
orchard
_______
ashby the cat licking
the slightest hints of samosa dough
off my outstretched fingers
in the green green green! of the
just-cut spring grass
_______
from the water world:
People celebrate Clean Monday (or Wet Monday) in Lviv, western Ukraine. Clean Monday is a Ukrainian Christian tradition celebrated on the first day after Orthodox Easter. – voice of america, day in photos
detail collector 