THE UNTENDED GARDEN (Day 5 - Vegetable)

An overgrowth of weeds
Like a crowd of out of control sports fans
Nearly obstructed the bright green leaves
And plump Brandywine tomatoes
Red as Santa's Christmas Eve suit
And indeed a gift: succulent flesh
Close to bursting through the delicate epidermis
Oddly out of place in the abandoned plot
No one there to protest it's removal
Or to protect the slender green beans
From indiscriminate picking
And although the corn stalks towered high
Above the troublesome flora
Which seemed determined to overtake it,
The cobs promised sweet kernals.
A tempting cornucopia of sustenance
Were it not for the enormous worms
Oozing out of the radioactive soil.


Caren E. Salas



photo:  realneo.us