Grandmother's Lessons

tomatoes ripen by moonlight-

you get your biggest harvest

when it's full, in august.

water in the evening

(soak the ground,

not the plants)

pick the fruit in the morning.

-and they are a fruit-

so are the beans, cucumbers,

corn, squash and peppers;

so, eat your greens too.

give freely to friends,

neighbors, family, and

can or freeze what remains.

Hourglass

to where do you turn for meaning,
the bible, dictionary, or koran?
are you buddhist
or pagan atheist?
do you pray to hindu statue,
the sun, or the east?

what answers do you hold?
what words dare you speak?

is your faith true and blind?
are you subject to your mind?

a victim of tinted skin?
and slave to tainted flesh?

is earth your mother;
sky your father-
count you crow and spider as your brother?
or be you darwinian primate,
of the highest might?

do you see that even
now we live in eden.
or perhaps this is ragnarok,
when soon some feathered serpent shall return,
as the ages of iron find there end.

so tell me now, do you seek to be content-
or strive to connect with divine intellect?
is chaos evil, and order good-
or have we misunderstood
the prophets teachings to our kind?

but then no mans hand
can grasp the sand.