It's Still Life

Allotment

If I wrote a book, I’d call it Allotment, and
there’d be a young woman who tended
her compost bin as if nothing else mattered.
She’d wear a green frayed edge jumper.

And there’d be a young man who dreamed
of marrying her. They’d have lots of children,
grow their own veggies, always organic,
and keep hens that would eat all the slugs.

But the young woman made it clear – she
has plans of her own, and wants to put lots
of oxygen between him and her, more than
they’d need to breathe. And the young man

wants her, the young woman who’s forking
over compost, the leaves and mown grass,
and pruned limbs from the roses, and yellow
leaf blades twisted off the daffodil bulbs.

And I’d also write in an old man who stares
at rows of wilting lettuces his wife planted.
She died a month ago, and until recently,
the old man wasn’t allowed to hate salad.

And there’d be a woman with long hair,
tied up in a messy knot, her skin pale
and lightly blushed from the spring sun.
She looks soft and downy in this light.

And the young man is too consumed by
his dreams to notice the women glance
up at each other. Smiles. Lingering, as if
they’re living in the same tapestry.

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