"His Kitchen Garden"
Come summer, he spends nights in exhilarating anxiety
Would the shoots show up or not, he dreams aloud
Several times; on waking tells me of his Dream Garden
Happy and laden with every possible food and fruit
When it begins, he spends hours hoeing the dry soil
Smoothing out lumps and bumps, chucking off bits
Of pebbles surprisingly found as if they belonged to
Ancient monuments bulldozed at someone’s whims
He courted squashes, zucchinis, cucumbers, spinach
Pesky peppers winking at the sullied sun of a cloudy sky
When they showed their eager faces, tiny pale shoots
Creating a ruckus among weeds and the fungi to rule
He quickly made space for young rowdy pop-ups push-
ing taller each day, stubborn green delights! Then embark-
ed on gathering twigs for a lattice frame, to hold hasty
Green climbers: wriggly blue bean vines, clamoring cukes
He worked all dewy summer mornings, in musky dusks
Watering the blossoming patch, his lovable food court
At nightfall went home after inspecting the merry rows
Pleased at swaying tendrils singing from the lattice roof
Oftentimes I know he just stared and smiled quietly on
At the doggone yellow squashes that kept pushing out, at
Pontificating pumpkins or ruby red radishes cool and coy
Spoke softly. Humored the jealousy the fruits bore to greens
I know he mostly loved the green peppers that grew sans
Care, dangled and never at all wrangled unless a raccoon
Came to chew on them and ran away quick scared of their
Fire-filled bellies, stunned absolutely by the seeds of wrath!
He worked real hard to keep off a bugging bunny though it
Often shook its brown storybook ears in sheer delight when
We didn’t watch; then romped and promptly chomped off all
Henceforth, a rabbit fence blocked the flap-eared terminator
Alas, more hard work was there! A handsome deer made
A joyful feast out of sunny pumpkin blossoms between
Constant tending, joining hooves with reticent weeds as
Our constant gardener worked like an angry earthworm
One sultry evening, while the animals still reaped our
Food, he resolved. “Forget bites claw rips muzzle licks,
Let’s join the harvest in our kitchen garden!” He tossed,
A juggler, tomatoes to be nibbled by incisor-happy friends
So, fresh salads, crispy veggies, peppered gravies for us
Squash buds for the deer, crunchy seeds and more for the
Rest that hopped or crawled. True, the patch was a boom for
Deer, raccoon, rabbit, human, coveting summer’s wealthy bloom.
Come summer, he spends nights in exhilarating anxiety
Would the shoots show up or not, he dreams aloud
Several times; on waking tells me of his Dream Garden
Happy and laden with every possible food and fruit
When it begins, he spends hours hoeing the dry soil
Smoothing out lumps and bumps, chucking off bits
Of pebbles surprisingly found as if they belonged to
Ancient monuments bulldozed at someone’s whims
He courted squashes, zucchinis, cucumbers, spinach
Pesky peppers winking at the sullied sun of a cloudy sky
When they showed their eager faces, tiny pale shoots
Creating a ruckus among weeds and the fungi to rule
He quickly made space for young rowdy pop-ups push-
ing taller each day, stubborn green delights! Then embark-
ed on gathering twigs for a lattice frame, to hold hasty
Green climbers: wriggly blue bean vines, clamoring cukes
He worked all dewy summer mornings, in musky dusks
Watering the blossoming patch, his lovable food court
At nightfall went home after inspecting the merry rows
Pleased at swaying tendrils singing from the lattice roof
Oftentimes I know he just stared and smiled quietly on
At the doggone yellow squashes that kept pushing out, at
Pontificating pumpkins or ruby red radishes cool and coy
Spoke softly. Humored the jealousy the fruits bore to greens
I know he mostly loved the green peppers that grew sans
Care, dangled and never at all wrangled unless a raccoon
Came to chew on them and ran away quick scared of their
Fire-filled bellies, stunned absolutely by the seeds of wrath!
He worked real hard to keep off a bugging bunny though it
Often shook its brown storybook ears in sheer delight when
We didn’t watch; then romped and promptly chomped off all
Henceforth, a rabbit fence blocked the flap-eared terminator
Alas, more hard work was there! A handsome deer made
A joyful feast out of sunny pumpkin blossoms between
Constant tending, joining hooves with reticent weeds as
Our constant gardener worked like an angry earthworm
One sultry evening, while the animals still reaped our
Food, he resolved. “Forget bites claw rips muzzle licks,
Let’s join the harvest in our kitchen garden!” He tossed,
A juggler, tomatoes to be nibbled by incisor-happy friends
So, fresh salads, crispy veggies, peppered gravies for us
Squash buds for the deer, crunchy seeds and more for the
Rest that hopped or crawled. True, the patch was a boom for
Deer, raccoon, rabbit, human, coveting summer’s wealthy bloom.
Image from the Internet
3 comments:
hmmmm long yet kept my interest till the end. Nice one.
I am tired. Read through it rather hastily but this is a poem that needs to be savoured at a different moment. It's a visual and tactile delight.
actually I am not exactly equipped to comment on this one since I have never written such descriptive not read such since I painfully lack in that area... so if at all I say something it will be wow, wow and more wow.
that said, i liked it a lot coz it was filled with stories with loads'a imagery. It was great!
I would like to know what yu think of your poem. Honestly! As though you were a passer-by commentator.
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