01-25-2026, 07:41 AM
Battle to the Depths edit 2 (milo, mark)
To undertake a garden dockside's ill advised,
the poisoned planks
are bound to leach their chemicals and taint
surrounding soil.
The alliums for flowers' sake, the daffodils
and hyacinth
are fine to plant but vegetables would drink
their fill of arsenic.
A gracious inland family had sympathy
for neighbors stuck
beneath the trees in lakeside shade and turned a field
to garden plots.
From dawn to dusk the sun is full, the cows approach
and moo hello
from their side of the six-foot fence. An open shed
holds garden tools,
a rototiller, picnic table. Throughout the grassy
low-mown paths
well water feeds the spigots tightly wrapped
with coiled hose.
In teeshirts over bathing suits we drive three miles
to plant our seeds
and tend them as they flower, fruit; organic harvest
fills the fridge,
enough to share the overflow with family and grateful friends.
Organics grown to counteract exposure
to contaminants
may soothe our minds but probably won't make a dent
in what's absorbed.
To undertake a garden dockside's ill advised,
the poisoned planks
are bound to leach their chemicals and taint
surrounding soil.
The alliums for flowers' sake, the daffodils
and hyacinth
are fine to plant but vegetables would drink
their fill of arsenic.
A gracious inland family had sympathy
for neighbors stuck
beneath the trees in lakeside shade and turned a field
to garden plots.
From dawn to dusk the sun is full, the cows approach
and moo hello
from their side of the six-foot fence. An open shed
holds garden tools,
a rototiller, picnic table. Throughout the grassy
low-mown paths
well water feeds the spigots tightly wrapped
with coiled hose.
In teeshirts over bathing suits we drive three miles
to plant our seeds
and tend them as they flower, fruit; organic harvest
fills the fridge,
enough to share the overflow with family and grateful friends.
Organics grown to counteract exposure
to contaminants
may soothe our minds but probably won't make a dent
in what's absorbed.


