How to squeeze an orange.
How long to soft and the best method
to hard boil an egg.
How to recognize a weed
before it takes over.
Who did I think would teach
what only a mother can teach?
Forget the master class in Tchaikovsky.
I need you for an hour.
What you know of theory
philosophy, the ethereal arts
just bony knowledge and such
if you can’t recognize a robin
by it’s song
that spring really begins
when the pecan leafs
how deep to plant a daffodil.
I have failed you son
for teaching only to stay
away from fire ants
poison ivy and mistletoe
hanging in door ways
The head start you should have had
from my mistakes,
not just youth, wasted.
Standing here, the end if not near
is coming
and now nothing I can do
but tell you that green in spring
is not simple.
From my seat on the porch
there is the bright pink green
where the Japanese Magnolia is being over taken
and the lavender green of the first Redbud.
There is the easy bend of tall grass green
whipping in the wind
and more than that.
If I ask you to sit
next here for just one hour
would it be enough?
Now the wax wings are back
skittish and camera shy
stripping berries from the Ligustrum
and- another way I have failed
Each yellow tipped feather
each seed dropping to the pavement
a reminder.