In the Summer of Tending Someone Else's Garden
by Marisa Gedgaudas
I choose to ignore the metaphors
As I plunge my hands into sweet soil
paying the debt
to watch foreign flowers bloom
Here it is ripe and everything is temporary
Like the season, like the breath
of warm strawberries
plucked straight from the stem
I press tender petals between my palms,
call you out to the yard
Wishing to grasp the warm
fingers of afternoon
To preserve the memory of all things
fleeting and soft
As I plunge my hands into sweet soil
paying the debt
to watch foreign flowers bloom
Here it is ripe and everything is temporary
Like the season, like the breath
of warm strawberries
plucked straight from the stem
I press tender petals between my palms,
call you out to the yard
Wishing to grasp the warm
fingers of afternoon
To preserve the memory of all things
fleeting and soft
Marisa Gedgaudas is a writer originally from Colorado who now lives on the windswept bluffs of Northern California. She is most inspired by the wild beauty around her and the tender vulnerabilities of people she encounters. She is most often found exploring the mountains of her childhood, the unspoiled Pacific coast, and the desert landscapes in between. Marisa has had poetry published by Zephyr Press and will have a piece in an upcoming anthology released by Spell Jar Press.