Models

Coreopsis
rudbekia
tradescantia
monarda
—unstoppable, reliable, upstanding citizens of the garden.
No rain? no problem.
They husband their power,
call a halt to blooming,
get into the business of making seeds.
They remind me of our late neighbor
a tall thin fellow in his ninth decade
who rummaged through trash cans
to pluck out a wearable shirt.
He wasted nothing.









Lynne Viti teaches in the Writing Program at Wellesley College. Her work has appeared in Soujourner, Meat for Tea: The Valley Review, Barefoot Review, Moondance, and at Boston and Portland, Oregon City Halls. https://stillinschool.wordpress.com