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Posts Tagged ‘seeds’

Shift

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on November 9, 2026| 9 Comments »


 
 
They’re doomed, of course, 
these calendula seedlings
sprouting all across the garden.
Because it’s November. 
Because even though
the fall was rainy enough
for water-swollen embryos 
to crack open their seed coats, 
even though there was time enough 
for the primary roots to push down 
and the embryonic stems to push up, 
even though there was light enough 
for the shoots to break through the soil, 
for the first true leaves to open 
and do their good green work 
of turning sunlight into food, 
still, the truth is they will freeze.
The truth is they will not have time 
to bud and flower and go to seed. 
As I stand above the dozens of seedlings, 
shaking my head, I swear I hear them say, 
No, honey, you are the one who is doomed
if you think the measure of a life 
depends on how much one blooms, 
doomed if you don’t believe that this, too,
is what we are here to do: 
to break through the tight dry shell 
that has kept you safe
and rise through the darkness into light.
 

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In Time

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on March 28, 2026| 6 Comments »


 
 
In soil not yet worked this spring,
two perfect rows of parsley emerge 
in a curly leafed celebration of green, 
vestiges from last year’s planting.
Where is not garden? 
Good hands, what will you do 
with this new trust rising
out of what looked like failure?

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The Flourishing to Come

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 1, 2026| 2 Comments »


on Imbolc, 2026
 
 
Midwinter, in Minnesota,
they are planting seeds
in the cold, seeds of kindness,
community, compassion,
ferocity. In the streets,
they plant seeds of integrity,
diversity, equality, justice.
On pavement and in snow,
they plant democracy.
The light is growing.
Imagine the beauty
if even half these seeds take.
What a life that will be when
they bloom. Imagine
all that goodness reseeding,
spreading like wildflowers.
Goodness burgeoning,
rampant, tenacious as weeds.

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Pricklesome

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on September 17, 2022| 10 Comments »


 
 
Piercing the softest sweater I own
are dozens of thin black seeds,
needle-sharp and needle-stiff.
Their purpose: to spread.
They prick, they lance, they jab, they spear.
They refuse to be ignored.
It took only seconds for them to attach,
but to extricate them?
 
Today, again, I was reminded
how I do not wish
to be a carrier of sharp things.
I do not wish to sow what is prickly,
do not want to propagate
what might bring pain to someone else.
 
The world continues to teach me,
Be soft. Spread kindness, only kindness.
That is the voice I most wish to hear.
I pull the dark seeds from the fabric.
I place them where they will never take root.
The night air kisses my skin where they were.
 
 
 

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The Truth

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 20, 2020| 2 Comments »

 

 

Inside the bright words

there are other words

that want to be said—

small words

in dark shells.

.

It reminds me

of the sunflowers

that grew in the fall—

how we loved them

for their golden petals,

 

but they were true

to the small dark seeds

that grew them,

to the small dark seeds

they grew.

 

 

 

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Amongst the Nasturtiums

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on June 2, 2019| Leave a Comment »

 

 

There are darknesses in me,

places I would disregard.

Is it any wonder every year

I plant thousands of tiny seeds

and then wander the garden,

rooting for each as overnightly

they put up rows of tiny leaves.

How easily I forget what is possible.

 

 

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Yet the Past Would Suggest

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 8, 2019| 2 Comments »

 

 

Reading seed catalogs

on an eight degree morning,

how improbable they look,

those royal chantenay carrots,

those pink seashell cosmos,

those bright sugar snap peas,

so greenly dangling.

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What the Gardener Learns

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on June 30, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

so beautiful, these seeds—

still learning to appreciate them

not for what they will become

but for the intricate

wonders they are

 

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More Bloom, More Bloom

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 6, 2017| 2 Comments »

 

 

I can’t wait until they die

my daughter says to the marigolds,

a wild joy grows on her face,

because then, she says,

I can pull them apart

and spread seeds

all over the place.

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Imbolc

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 3, 2017| 3 Comments »

Before the planting

of the seeds,

the preparation

to plant the seeds—

too soon for the soil,

of course, but

here, the hands

of the planter.

Rose milk lotion. Rest.

The time for verbs,

later.

These long nights,

the time for dreams.

Out of darkness,

sprouting,

unstoppable budding,

sweet frolicsome riots

of soft and feral pink.

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Just a few days before the new year

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on December 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

the seed company sends their catalog

with 162 full-color pages of vegetables ready

 

to harvest. From snap peas and bush beans

to shallots and quinoa, plus every shape

 

and curl of leafy green—red ursa, red ruffled,

red Russian, Bolshoi. This is the same night

 

my son asks me as he falls asleep to explain

the difference between science and religion.

 

One, I say, is based on fact. The other,

I say, is based on faith. Though tonight,

 

as the temperature falls below ten,

and I regard the carrots, dark orange

 

and almost glowing off of page 29,

I begin to wonder how different

 

the two really are. I notice how the promise

of a slow-bolting, scab resistant

 

varietal sounds like a psalm I love—

the Lord, it says, will keep you from all harm—

 

and I look at the Royal Chatenays

and the Yaya Nantes and say out loud

 

to the dark kitchen windows and

to the cold winter air, I believe, I believe.

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