For Sale: Raised Beds (New Version)

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For Sale: Raised Beds


For those who need a border to know 

where to dump their bag of dirt


and the weight of this urge 

to give new life a go. For those 


who itch to see earth elevated 

but don’t know what to do 


with seven cedar planks, forty-two 

star-bit screws. With a bit 


of maneuvering, the chance of a garden   

fits in the back of most vehicles 


cleaned out, seats down, but margins

are thin. Who of us can balance 


the book of our lumbering, 

say for certain all we’ve spent 


or what square feet of fresh start

we’ve helped a stranger load? 


How suddenly the yellow tape comes 

whirring back, snapped shut 


and pocketed before we can 

mark the lasting measures.


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