You never know what we'll churn up in cleaning a stall
It’s a kitchen table, rather than a largely ignored dining room. Or outside, in the rain. Or even a restaurant or diner.
Well, in one of the poems, it’s linen covered beside a black pond. But that’s for a formal occasion.
As for the rest of the series, the pieces reflect home and family and a calling to intimacy. How informal do you want to get? And how do you like your tea?
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For your own copy, click here.
Feeding bunnies, I’ve learned the difference. Hay is healthier than straw.
But when it comes to mulch, straw’s better. Leads to fewer weeds.
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“You want first-cutting? Or third?”
October, a dash to the farm for two more bales of mulch hay
a half-dozen ears of sweet corn, gourds, etc.
and then the wine store
before grilling thick pork chops
poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
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For more home and garden poems, click here.
Every autumn, I drain and put the hoses away. Shut off the water. Move other stuff into the barn and shed.
Just one more round of rituals that could be accompanied by incense.
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For my home and garden free poetry collections, click here.
This time of year, it’s off for mums. This is, especially, New England. It’s all part of the look.
My wife has her favorite nursery, Bluebell, in Lee. They really know the quality of what they carry. The way a good bookstore does.
So where are you headed? And why?
over the kitchen, one black walnut is bare
the other’s just beginning to turn yellow
10 pumpkins wait beside the driveway
even before I collect squashes and gourds
from the garden
autumn touches, make my Lady of Spices happy
chrysanthemums and a few poppies
reset to barrels and pots around the barn and kitchen entry
the mums in the barrels so gorgeous
next to the pumpkin-filled wheelbarrow
the harvest in a wheelbarrow – eggplants, too
or vines in the compost
our blooming cardinal flower
makes me wish more had survived, even just one, to remind us
poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
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For more of my home and garden poems, click here.
Am I really a squirrel, as my wife suggests?
Sometimes I wonder.
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For more on my poetry collection and others, click here.
This is the time of year when we start looking for big asters.
Not the collectors, but the flowers. The ones with only one S in the middle.
more squirrels than girls – and there are a lot of girls in this neighborhood
two horny squirrels on a tree
neighbors report a large groundhog … where are those dogs?
possum … how funny they look, running
their back arches, and both ends drop
nearly to the ground
how laborious!
a possum in the bottom of one of our plastic barrels
furrier than I expected
turn the cylinder on its side, still takes a while
for the critter to move off … injured? stunned? no idea
a young porcupine crossing Hill Street four doors down …
a neighbor watching from the stoop …
next night, a dead adult porcupine in the street
on our apron by the back door
a small snake, whip motion,
ever so slowly
Rachel awakens me
for a scurrying, gnawing noise
inside the wall, beside our heads
in the morning, I realize we haven’t heard
the house sparrows nesting in the eaves overhead, either
none of our plans come off as planned
but we keep readjusting
poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
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For more of my home and garden poetry, click here.
Reprise
The amount of wildlife in our yard continually impresses me,
especially compared to Oakdale Avenue or Woodbine.
The abundance of squirrels, of course, and possible rats
but also skunks, opossums, the groundhog can be added in
plus snakes and insects.
We must be doing something right, or just be in the right location.
A first: amid a throng of blue jays chasing a crow, a mockingbird:
was its nest raided or threatened?
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For more on my home and garden poetry, click here.
So much yellow, this time of summer! Sunflowers, finches, goldenrod, corn drenched in butter. Banks of black-eyed susans, too.
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For my collected garden poems and more, click here.
Jnana's Red Barn 