#25 Public Garden Encounters

Cosmetics

Someone had a grand plan
for the flower bed by the trolley portal:
lay a layer of newspaper
over the weeds
cover it all with mulch
set in a few new flowers
and leave.

It looked pretty,
fresh and new

Yet the plan was flawed.
The weed
I had been patiently digging for weeks
was hardy.
It crawled happily along
under the newspaper
till it found a crack
then burst forth
ready to take over
once again.

The newspaper blocked my shovel.
I struggled to get through where the leaves appeared,
missed the root
struggled again.

For weeks we faced off.
Perversely
the weed seemed stronger
under this protection.

Finally,
hours of drenching rain
gave my shovel access.
I sliced
through pretty mulch and rotting paper
getting to the fat roots
of the problem.

How often does a surface fix
look good
(for a while)
but make it harder
to get at what really needs to change?

(Is affluence
the pretty surface
that keeps us from struggling through
to what would bring real joy?)

Pamela Haines
7/04



Neighbors

We’d met before.
He was sleeping behind the flower bed
at the trolley portal
when I came to work.

I felt awkward, intrusive,
but not afraid.
So I dug
while he slept.

When he woke,
stretched,
rolled up his things
I wished him a good morning
as neighbors do.

The next time
he was leaving as I arrived.
We exchanged a nod
and a smile.

This morning I am not prepared
to find him sleeping so close
hardly concealed by a bush.
Will we always share this space?
I worked here long before
he settled in,
have thought of it as mine.

I tiptoe around
digging quietly
my back to him when I get close,
trying to respect
his fragile bedroom wall.

Then sounds of rustling
the smell of a cigarette
his start of a new day,
shared.

Pamela Haines
9/04