Guide to Giving Ten Percent (A Golden Shovel)
(After Gwendolyn Brooks and bone folder press)
A section of neglected weeding. We
leave a bed waiting on mulch, while real
pruning’s put off til the next cool
morning. Seeds sown when we
still have a sliver of season left.
The garden isn’t grading our school
work. The garden asks that we
tend it rather than mope or lurk,
and a little delay’s better than too late.
12 thoughts on "Guide to Giving Ten Percent (A Golden Shovel)"
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This is a delightfully effective golden shovel. Love it!
I can’t believe I pulled it off!
Was just good timing and the right concept.
Thank you.
Great message in your poem.
Gardens hold so many great messages.
I’m lucky I get to listen and look for them.
The rhyming breakdown of what the garden is and is not asking was really cool to read. Great poem!
Thank you!
Credit to “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks for the rhyming lineup.
Her birthday is June 6 or 7, along with Nikki Giovanni!
Enjoyed this poem about your gardening and more…
“A little delay is better than too late.” Words to live by.
Tabitha! – Way to integrate GB’s poem into yours! You did pull it off, girl! I used to teach this one – always loved the word “lurk.” Very inventive path into poetry.
Love the last stanza and how it stays with you, excellent work
Ooh, well done!
This works so well! It flows and is a tribute to Brooks, too. I LOVE Golden Shovels!!