A FLEXIBLE OBJECT BENDS TO A QUICKENING FLOW
Leaves buffeted by wind
roll up into tight cones.
When strong winds blow,
daffodils twist so the backs
of their petals face
into the wind.
In air-flow experiments,
a flexible fiber always
settles at the boundary
between the smooth stream
and turbulent whirls,
following a universal shape,
like a flag flapping back and forth
in a steady pattern.
STRAWBERRY FIELDS
For Marnie MacLean
In memoriam Donald MacLean
The summer after my husband died,
the strawberry fields burst forth
with their greatest abundance
in forty-five years of our farming.
I sense Don’s lingering presence.
as I walk the uneven furrows
between the rows of strawberry plants.
I hear his voice in my ear,
calculating, planning, suggesting.
We rotated our fields on a three-year cycle.
After the harvest, the weeds took over,
and we plowed it all under. The next spring,
we began again and harvested the second year.
I picture him riding his tractor.
A straw hat shields his face.
He is wearing jeans and a plaid shirt.
His tractor roars down the rows.
Blackbirds wheel about his head.
Our children didn’t want the farm.
They envisioned other lives.
Ten years ago, we sold the land
to the county conservancy
to preserve it as farmland in perpetuity.
Each year since then we leased it back.
At night I walk outside with my dog.
Once an owl flew so low over my head
I sensed its shadow, though heard nothing,
and a shiver of fear went through me.
Now there is no sound but the breeze.
I smell the sweetness of the berries.
and I bless these fields that they may bring
peace and love to those who come
to pick and eat our luscious fruit.
This season will be my last.
Anne Whitehouse is the author of poetry collections: The Surveyor’s Hand, Blessings and Curses, The Refrain, Meteor Shower, Outside from the Inside, and Steady, as well as art chapbooks, Surrealist Muse (about Leonora Carrington), Escaping Lee Miller, Frida, Being Ruth Asawa, and Adrienne Fidelin Restored. She is the author of a novel, Fall Love.
.
PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL
Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles
Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International
Borderless 