Molly’s challenge to the Inklings this month was “to write a poem about some sort of domestic task.” My loss of control in the garden is embarrassingly similar to my approach to housekeeping — tidy up just enough to get by until time and energy (and usually company coming) converge to inspire a deeper cleaning.
“The show” is in full force right now in my garden. I never cease to be amazed at the transition from the exciting first tentative emergence of spring green and bloom to summer’s (seemingly sudden) surge of exuberant (over)growth.
Here’s how the rest of the Inklings interpreted this challenge:
Linda@A Word Edgewise
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Molly@Nix the Comfort Zone
Catherine@Reading to the Core
Margaret@Reflections on the Teche
Karen has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at “The Blog With the Shockingly Clever Title.”
The signup for Poetry Friday hosts July-December 2022 is here!
A(nother) Year of Reading 
I can relate to loss of control in the garden, Mary Lee! So many lines in your poem jumped out at me, and I love the personification – annuals acquaint, ferns dance, poppies lean, etc. Nicely done!
LikeLike
That last line is a good reminder for me. I like to feel in control, but sometimes it’s better to “just give up and enjoy the show.” Thank you for a great poem!
LikeLike
I can certainly relate to your housekeeping!! The garden less-so, as my yard is shared with cow’s. Sometimes I think I should fence them out so I can play with a garden… But I haven’t yet.
LikeLike
Same here with the housekeeping method. 🙂 Don’t have a garden or any flowers for that matter, but can relate to the overgrowth phenom when it comes to trees. Seems like overnight they went from light green budding leaves to monster branches attacking our house.
LikeLike
This spring I never had a chance to get control but flowers are blooming despite it. I feel like your poem leads us into a beautiful setting and helps us remember and realize that control or no control, beauty still emerges.
LikeLike
I’m just heading to the outer garden which really isn’t mine but I am obsessed with finding the bindweed. Since our rain earlier in the week, my own garden has indeed gone wild. I love reading your descriptions, Mary Lee. That ‘orderly calm’ to ‘whisked away in a breeze’ is time-traveled beautifully!
LikeLike
Ha! Getting acquainted with unbounded soil…plants just love that and it makes me so happy to watch them in that state. I’m all for enjoying the show. I plant and then…boom…jungle! Never have I kept an orderly garden.
LikeLike
I can totally relate to this! Right now my garden is filled with dame’s rocket, a local wildflower. I can’t bring myself to pull it out as it’s just beautiful. Unfortunately, it does crowd out some of the perennials. Ah well…your last line says it all!
LikeLike
Ohhh my goodness this is very relatable. I’m desperately trying to get some work done now that Violet flowering season is over, preferably before the Pokeweed passes 3 feet in height. The chaos of summer is upon us!
LikeLike
“All semblance of control is whisked away in a breeze” is exactly right. We have had a lot of rain, which means lots of growing but not much weeding. I love how you’ve used so many verbs — we can feel the rampant growth!
LikeLike
Mary Lee, how beautifully you summed up June’s bossy preoccupation with gardening but the show is always so amazing. I’m off to add a beautiful ceramic water fountain to create a meditative look in my garden. Move over flowers for I am on my way!
LikeLike
I love that your chaotic cacophony of blooms helped grow this poem, Mary Lee. Regarding housekeeping — visitors are my most effective motivators. 🙂
LikeLike
I’m learning, too, that sometimes the best we can do is let go! Isn’t it incredible to glimpse a moment of growth in the wild? Thank you for the poem!
LikeLike
Oh my, at least you have an abundance of blooms! (In our yard, it’s the opposite due to the animals eating the plants and digging holes to be near the soil that is watered once a week to keep those plants alive. I “give up” by using the soil the burrowers push up to make new “water wells” around the few plants that have survived.)
LikeLike
Seems like there was a plethora of Oak flowers this year, and maple seeds too–but ah, everythings growing even if it’s kinda wild. Perfect poem Mary Lee! And for housekeeping, I’m good at making little piles inside, though sometimes they get too big… Thanks!
LikeLike
I restarted my computer and now I can see the poem and photo just fine! Yes, I sit here overwhelmed by the exuberant overgrowth before me in the backyard, too–we have now entered the stage where my principal gardening technique is Pull It Out. Your verbs in this one are fantastic, and I encourage you to mess around with the form to show the progression from calm orderliness to showy exuberance!
LikeLike