Turnip

The seed of a poem lay dormant in my heart, like turnips I planted last summer, old seed that I threw on the ground. I watered and watered and a few sprouted, needing protection from slugs. I left them in the fall. Their winter was hard and had snow, while I traveled across country, then across continents into Africa, to tropical landscapes and 12 foot kale.

I forgot about my garden back home, my newly planted asparagus, lingonberry bushes, shallots, garlic and those old turnip seeds. Forgot about my hopes that a winter garden was possible.

In March my husband returned home without me (he doesn’t go overseas). He got the urge to work in the garden. His call to me, “Is this a vegetable or a weed?” It was my turnip.

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dVerse prompt flash nonfiction in 144 words or less using the quote in italics by Valsa George from Winged Words

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Too Hot

it is as hot as Texas in Washington except there is no air conditioning. Here it is not normal to be in the 100s. Sit in shade. Take off the drab jeans and t-shirt. Put on a wrap-a-round.

too hot

for clothes

naked gardening

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dVerse prompt to write a quadrille with the word wrap.

Say the Word

I went out to the garden

looking for spelling bees

there were many beside me—

a bumble bee entered foxglove’s bell

it was not the one I seek

then one buzzed my head

anxious at my presence

to say the word

say the word

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dVerse prompt for a quadrille using the word spell

Maid of Earth Day

Out of the mist

in silver glow

comes a voice

I did not know

This earth is mine

tend it well

all firs and the pine

cedars too

A breath for me

and a breath for you

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NaPoWriMo Day 25 prompt to write an aisling

When the Garden Speaks

Tomato said, “I will speak for the life of the sauce that finds me squashed or diced and sometimes whole.

Fig said, “I will speak for the jam that sweetens my flavor in a delightful spread on biscuit.

Onion said, “I belong in every garden, in every dish and in your tears.

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NaPoWriMo Day 20 prompt to write a poem that anthropomorphizes food.

Come Into the Garden

Come

into the garden

at dawn

before

dew dries

from the dragonfly

Come

as the sun

filters

through cedars

to glow

on the rippled

waters of pond

Come

with trowel and seed

energy

to last all day

pluck a weed

don’t forget

to feed

hungry peonies

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NaPoWriMo Day 19 prompt to write a command poem. This is my garden commanding me to get to work.

Blooms

I want to know what makes a flower bloom

My tulips look like I planted upside down

Iris are all green with lanky stalk

Lilies look so small and disarrayed

Is it the lack of nutrients in the soil

Or winter’s low shading of the sun

My pear tree must have flower to fruit

Without blooms peas and beans retreat

Do not waste away another day

It’s time to fertilize fertilize fertilize

Come alive

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NaPoWriMo Day 16 prompt to write a curtal sonnet.

Write

Write about a seed in the garden

how it was placed in rich soil

when temperature warmed

your patience required

before there was a sprout

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NaPoWriMo Day 4 prompt to write a prompt poem concerning a prompt.

Fooled

I thought it was Spring

but things are not always what they seem

last night it snowed

wind whipped over my rose

will the buds survive

as weather drops below twenty five

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dVerse prompt on proverb or adage. “Things are not always what they seem” from Aesop’s Fables Bee-keeper and the Bees. I thought we were having an early Spring here in the NW. Not so.

Cold Brewed

Temperate climate

soil is loose and ready

to cultivate

arugula radicchio

celery cabbage kale

chard favas beets

made it through

kept warm under snowfall

now start to grow

nibbled by rabbit and slugs

buds swell on the fig

red of rhubarb emerges

cold brewed

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dVerse prompt to write a quadrille and use the nibble word.