Raised Beds

RAISED BEDS

It takes seven cedar pickets, 

forty-two star-bit screws, impact

driver and miter saw, a couple 

pressure-treated 2x4’s and a table 

saw if you hope to rip trim: all this 

to elevate the earth three feet closer

to heaven. I have sweat to keep meticulous 

accounts, have accounted for

the seasonal swing of cedar 

and rendered unto the various Caesars

their apportioned pots

of soil, toiled to keep up

with receipts and tabs on each

transaction, and for all this 

three boards lean against the trailer

like indivisible numbers, like knowings

without a word, unspoken

for. Who of us can say

for certain—when the season

closes like a heavy book

that it's our turn to balance—the sum

of what all this lumbering 

has cost us, or in the green, 

just how many chances of a garden 

we have helped a stranger load?