Garden Variety Concerns
I forgot to feed the middle tomato
the runt in the row of three, my mind
not what it used to be, the terrible
disease my mother has, we of a kind,
can’t deny the dire possibility.
The best I can do is try to move with ease
into a future without memories,
through these days that time will tease
were my good days, before I went downhill
staring through blank eyes at my wife and daughter
strangers, though even stranger still will
be wondering who I am — how laughter
and joy every minute of every day
while more and more of me slips away?
15 thoughts on "Garden Variety Concerns"
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The best Debbie Downer sonnet. it’s awesome!
Ha! That’s such an apt description of my work, love it!
Love Debbie Downer. And y’all.
so real since so much slips away, these days
The sonnet: it’s not just for love poems anymore. You captured how I feel at times when my bones creak and I can’t remember where anything is. Great poem, Bill.
Another chance for this fan to say
Wow. As I was thinking of what yo say Lee voiced it “The sonnet: it’s not just for love poems anymore. ”
I can’t express how much joy it gives me to see these as they are yanked from the factory still wet.
Simply, thank you.
Love how tender, transitory, yet full of legacy your subject matter is–
Tomato plant, Mom, mindfulness of mental decline, your beloved family.
Wow.
Also, that title!
Ka-chow.
Thank you for this. Sending you and yours (and the tomatoes) love.
Wow! A great write! This poem brought tears to my eyes.
You have found another gear this month, Bill. You’ve drawn very near to your deepest feelings and drawn your reader close too. The beauty of your work these days is astounding.
Thanks, Kevin — that means a great deal coming from you. Appreciate it.
This achieves both vulnerability and humor. Love that we had a poetry mind-meld today and both about tomato plants and wandering minds! 🙂
such tenderness in your work-even the gardening care to those tomatoes
I echo everyone! I was so caught up in the poem that it wasn’t until the third time through that I saw it was a sonnet. Snuck up on me! Absolutely beautiful.
Incredibly moving and such lovely/loving imagery.
I love how you move between present-tense and future-tense and imbue humor into thisp iece.