Saturday, February 09, 2008

My Winter Gardens

[This is my contribution to Cafe Writing's February Project poetry option. We were asked to write about gardens, as inspired by the poem you can find over there. Go ahead and look - I'll wait.]



My Winter Gardens

My January garden grows shivers,
self-seeding on the frozen wind
until all my neighbors have them too
and no one wants my extras.

My February garden nurtures icicles,
the transparent taproots longer each day,
though I lose a few, now and then,
when the weather gets too warm.

My March garden's bounty is mud,
a slow-starter, first shallow so that
I slip when crossing the yard, but
later deep enough to swallow boots whole.



15 comments:

Pat said...

Blogger has sabotaged my comment. I am not amused. Suffice to say well done for your poem, and Michele sent me here. Have a nice week-end!

Sleepypete said...

My April garden brings fragrant flowers opening,
Coming out to play in the sun,
The sound of bees brings promise,
Of summer warmth to come.

Here via Michele :-) although I missed the chance to say hi in the thread.

Read one poem, was so impressed I read more, thought the best way to say "Here via Michele" was to try and reply in kind but I know it's a pale imitation next to your's !

PS Reading more of your poems is probably why I missed the spot in Michele's thread ;-)

sister AE said...

Hello, PI. I hate it when that happens! I'm so glad you had the patience to leave me a comments even though Blogger wasn't behaving.

Hi, Sleepypete. I'm tickled that you like my poems. Stop by anytime, whether Michele sends you or not!

Deb said...

What a great prompt and response.

* * *

I’ve tagged you with a totally optional poetry meme:a 10 x 10 poem. Hope you don’t mind. And feel free to ignore it if it doesn’t spark you!

sister AE said...

hi, ...deb. I'll come take a look.

Shephard said...

Great imagery, and a nice way to think of the productivity of a winter garden. :)

Michele sent me to look at things through different eyes.
~S

sister AE said...

Thanks, Shephard.

Ambiguitylotus said...

I really love the imagery, especially the last stanza! I wish I can get a full dose of snow where I live! We don't have very much snow around here. :(

sister AE said...

Thanks, AmbiguityLotus. Sometimes there isn't enough snow here either, although some of my neighbors don't necessarily agree! But we get mud one way or the other!

Anonymous said...

I'm really impressed with your sense of cadence, especially in the final stanza. I also liked this line: "self-seeding on the frozen wind..." It's funny how certain lines resonate for no obvious reason.

sister AE said...

Thank you, TLP. I agree that certain groups of words somehow have power. I'm glad those work for you.

little wing writer said...

wow...garden changes by month ... awesome description of your garden...

sister AE said...

Thanks, LittleWing. I grow poetry more easily these days than anything planted in the ground!

Gemma Wiseman said...

Adore the image of swallowing boots! Great to hear about gardens in another hemisphere!

Smiles and Light

sister AE said...

Thanks, Greyscale Territory. The "mud season" is much worse farther to the north of us, but it was still worth a mention here.