Shoots

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SHOOTS


My wife and I uncovered a family 

of small things nesting in our box spring, 

while a good friend and his 


can’t get one small thing to grow 

for more than a month. Last Spring 

I pulled up the Basil sprouts 


and young Oregano and faithfully watered

the weeds for weeks. What grows 

and what doesn’t both happens 


in the dark, and it’s someone’s work 

to decide what gets past that. 

Past that, we’re left with an itch


and a hope unbearable as cradled air

that they can see in the dark enough 

to know just what they’re plucking up. 

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