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YORKE/ BIO


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​
​P.

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Not a prodigious amount        not a mad amount.

                                                                                                                                                       Of plants, I mean.


I followed your recipes to the letter             just until I used up all

the vegetables you’d grown             and the fruit.


I followed your ballpoint on your feint-ruled             recipe cards.

You never did.            You’d dig out the right card

set it on the counter            then never look the whole time.


The preserves I’ve made           won’t be much good

but I used up            all you’d grown.


What’s there to say.           When you walked through your orchard

I could see your slender fruit trees           wanted to follow.


The last bottle only filled halfway.

While it cooled I sat before it            there and tried to will myself


as one clipped onto a polygraph

could you please repeat the question


I could not eat.            I tried to seal it halfway like that

then left the wax and dipper            to harden in the pot.


I chose a few handsome jars for my basket.

Filled the pantry shelves            and half the workbench.


I hope the vagrants arrive       before the mortgage people

repossess













© COLUMBA  |  ​​​​​​ISSN ​2564-1271

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