we bought the place and
the weeds weren’t the worry
just couldn’t see the signs
the strongest plants
onion and lilac and raspberries
and really couldn’t read
who would know
and so there were green
onions growing year after
year and the lilac bush
i built a deck over it
and it’s alive down there
and raspberries along
the fence line and we didn’t
think anything and it took
years to ask older folks
and they said well green onions
plant them near the door to get
them in the kitchen fast
and it’s just easier the lilac
smells so nice and well
who doesn’t like raspberries
and then each one handed
down from the last owner
she planted them near her
door and each one the plants
that protects against
spells and spirits we didn’t
know then that we could
and should read the garden
and wonder about why
i mean who needs that
much protection and how
bad was the city we
bought in
we should have read it in the garden
| Mike Sluchinski is out on a cellar crawl with the clurichauns again, so please leave a message at the beep. Grateful to be read in Kaleidotrope, Eternal Haunted Summer, The Wave (Kelp), The Literary Review of Canada, The Coachella Review, Inlandia, Welter, Poemeleon, Lit Shark, Proud To Be Vol. 13, The Ekphrastic Review, MMPP (Meow Meow Pow Pow), Kelp Journal, “the fib review,” Syncopation Lit. Journal, South Florida Poetry Journal (SOFLOPOJO), Freefall, pulpmag, and more coming! |  |