Thinning Beets

The instructions
are clear and exact:

Thin to 1 plant per 2”

I inch my way
down the rows,
like an angel of death
kneeling over
the seedlings.










Martha Christina is a frequent contributor to Brevities. Longer work appears or is forthcoming in Red Eft Review and Crab Orchard Review. She lives in Bristol, RI, where for many years she taught creative writing at Roger Williams University.

See more of her work in 6.3 here.