If all our eyes had the clarity of apples …

 

        –from Bernadette Mayer’s, “The Garden”

 

If all our eyes had the clarity of apples, if all our thoughts

were as sharp as a pineapple’s bracts. If all our bitterness

 

could be finely minced, thrown into a pot with the softening

yams, the small white beans. Add a little thyme, both dried and doused

 

with rain, add a tablespoon of basil; let the flavors marry and meld,

let the steam fog the kitchen windows, loosen November’s chill.

 

If all our children reseeded like volunteer tomatoes. If grief loosened

with a tug like the late fall carrots from the weedy patch out back.

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Martha Silano has authored five poetry books, including Gravity Assist (2019), Reckless Lovely (2014), and The Little Office of the Immaculate Conception (2011), all from Saturnalia Books. She enjoys running, backpacking, cross-country skiing, and identifying birds and wildflowers. An avid vegetable gardener, she teaches at Bellevue College, near her home in Seattle, WA. marthasilano.net