Tall Grass by Diane Engelstad

Leiliane Dutra

Tall Grass

I love

how the tall grasses

Panicum virgatum and 

Chasmantium latifolium

— perched at the corner

where my driveway

meets the runoff ditch,

next to where the refuse bins 

await collection on Tuesdays,

their brittle plastic markers with

Latin names 

long since obscured

by the expanding forest

of their grassy stems—

never stay bent and bowed for long

after a battering rain

pummels their regal foliage,

to be released graciously

from tips to ground;

or early snows

all but flatten

their former bearing

threatening a reluctant hibernation.

No, they shed the unnecessary

weight,

channel it to their roots

where it will serve them well

in time

and stand nobly together

waving in the more forgiving winds

deflecting potential criticisms 

of the imperfect lawn behind them

with sheer and outrageous confidence

proclaimed by reds and blues and greens

in plumage and dancing seeds.

They declare to passersby,

“Isn’t it marvelous 

to be right here?”

(From Diane Engelstad's book In the Presence of Trees, All the Space Publishing, 2026)

© Diane Engelstad

Enjoy more posts by Diane Engelstad HERE.

Diane Engelstad

Diane Engelstad lives in a small town in Ontario, Canada, and has been writing poetry for about ten years. A late bloomer, she is inspired by the world, mystery, moments of clarity, trees, and the loves of her life. She published two volumes of poetry in 2026 -- In the Presence of Trees: Poems for finding your footing; and Begin Again: Poems for praying without ceasing; available from All the Space Publishing, diane@engelstad.ca.

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