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Photo © Barbara Leonhard |
Ode to a Yard
The backyard, now a room.
The teeming branches
of the pin oak, red bud,
and elm stretch into a canopy.
We leave part of the lawn alone
to sow a meadow. Violets, clover,
dandelions. Tall patches of native grass
go to seed. Periwinkle blushes
on the yard’s borders.
Gardening tools laze about
atop a disheveled log.
The garden soil, dry, still not tilled.
The metal spikes that held last year’s tomatoes linger,
supporting withered stalks.
Clustering around the far edge,
a thick crop of never-fail oregano.
Elsewhere, batches of volunteer kale
surprise us.
On the garden's edge, a hose lies coiled
ready to strike.
Inside on a counter, seed packets sit
waiting for soil and sun.
© Barbara Harris Leonhard
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| Barbara Harris Leonhard |
Barbara Harris Leonhard is the author of Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir (2022) and The Lost Book of Zeroth (2025). She is the co-author of Too Much Fun to Be Legal (2024) and Broken Rengay: Unruly Poetry (2025). She’s a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. Trending Poets named her Poet of the Year more than once. Her poetry has been translated into Italian, Albanian, and Chinese. She is the Editor for MasticadoresUSA and FEED THE HOLY. Her blog is Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver.
“a hose lies coiled
ReplyDeleteready to strike.”
Made me smile.☺️