A Poem by Kathy Raines

Ranked and filed geraniums, candy apple red
Awaited her attention, smiling in their bed.
Petals folding, drooping, of a scorching noon,
But bathed into bliss in late afternoon
As the birds resumed their songs.

Weeds and grassy stragglers couldn’t intervene,
Plucked away like stray hairs sprouting from her chin,
Corraled but giggling grandkids yanked out errant clumps
By the sky blue fence that muffled passing cars,
Painted by a good college boy.

Knotted, loose-skinned fingers watered, pruned and prayed
Till her season passed; she faded unafraid,
But who inherits flowers trimmed by ageing hands?
Relegated renters sit on the land,
Watching grass grow, paint peel.

Thirty years have passed; now yellow grass coats all,
Brimming to a wavy fence, dingy blue and dull.
‘Y’-shaped grassy wands climb up and around
The gap-toothed planks,
Creeping to the street.
Fastidious care gone wanton.