Corona Silver Lining #1

Back on Friday, six days ago, as the world began to collapse...

Walking home from the mechanic (steering shaft) it began to rain.

In the crosswalk of the state highway a woman pulled her car to the side of the onramp and offered me a ride.

I politely declined as the entire walk was less than a mile and home was around the corner.

A nice woman offers a ride in her to a stranger in the rain during a global pandemic.

M Train by Patti Smith

I asked Patti Smith
to shut up
about all that Nothing.
She replied
If you let me finish.

Dennis found the book at his favorite thrift store
and bought it for Brian.
Brian said I own this book it's Magic
you should read it.
Dennis said OK
and gave it to me.

I fought her for seventy pages or so
then the NYC Water Dept. was a junkie
looking for a mainline
and she spoke to statues
and they replied
and I realized she was Sad
and I let her tell me her story
and I loved it

Summer '19

Groundhog attack.

This year's excuses:

-I don't really like chard
-The broccoli was dead anyways

Strawberry boom.  A week in June where every morning you get a big cup, then a week where every morning you get Two big cups, and then the berries are Gone. The big plant shoots out little baby plants and I gave each one a little handful of compost to grow up in. A way to ensure boominess next year but also a way to say Thank You, Strawberry Patch.

Planted five new blackberry plants for next year.

Built new tomato box (help from TGun).

Baby Levon loves being outside. Rub one of the herbs on your fingers and stick in front of his nose and watch all his senses light up.

The Pointed End of Patience

The garden teaches patience. 

We wait patiently for strawberries.

When they ripen the time is for Action.  No excuses.

If you miss a morning harvest: bugs, rot, rodents.

The berries are gone.

2019 Garden 1

Asparagus - the bed in the alley already booming
                    second year, don't eat too many
                    the big bed not yet
                    but laid fresh Black Earth compost
                    third year no holds barred
Basil - seedling from Cedar Rock Gardens needs a week indoors before planting
Blackberries - single mound with 3-4 canes
                       one real nice one
                        probably needs pruning 
Broccoli - planted 4 seedlings from Cedar Rock
Cannabis - three germinated seeds have sprouted, strain TBD
                  many more seeds in water germinating (hopefully)
Carrots - from seed in the planter by the walkway
               in the bed by the driveway
               and in barrels in the big asparagus bed
               orange and purple
Chamomile - infested the big asparagus bed terribly
                      ripped it up and gave to friends
                      kept coming
                      ripped it up and transplanted to the alley
                      and they took real nice over winter
Chives - before us the big asparagus bed was infested by chives
              many chive plants uprooted
               felt like a murderer and left a single clump
              an homage a thank you to what was once 
               now they boom more than anything but
               we never really eat them
               maybe chopped up on fish once or twice
Garlic- hey look three garlic scapes from last year in the raised bed
Kale - planted two seedlings from Cedar Rock
Mint - stringy lookin' roots so I covered em in compost
Onion - hey look four onions from last year in the alley
Peas - planted in the raised bed
Pepper - bell pepper seeds germinating
Radish - seeds planted in the raised bed
Sage - last year's plant has new buds
Spinach - sowed many rows of seed in the raised bed
Strawberry - transplanted patch looking good in new spot closer to the Cherry Tree
Swiss Chard - planted two seedlings
---
Apple Tree - looks awesome maybe too awesome and needs prune?
Cherry Tree - good looking buds so far
                       need to research how to maximize fruit production
---
Hosta - showing signs of life (year 3!)
Lillies - two varieties of transplants
             one from mom
             one from trudy next door
             can't keep them straight
             one was Japanese right?
Pansy - in the hanging basket above the strawberry patch
             and the triple clay pot my brother's family got us
Parade Roses - after successful winter indoors
                        which produced a winter rose
                        white with red speckles
                        looking like real shite in the front garden 
Rhododendron - three cuttings from a students mom last fall
                           bloomin
                           heard they get big need to keep an eye on these
Snapdragon - already complimented from a stranger/neighbor/passerby
                      line of four (Cedar Rock) facing the street in the front garden
                      learned they were edible

man and cub

we walk in a circle on the second floor
to stop him from crying
past the piano and the wurlitzer
we watch the washer and dryer
outside the coo of a mourning dove
inside the coo of a man cub
his back warm against my belly
seated on my right arm
left arm across his belly
all hands and feet
Time an anchor
slowly dragging the bottom
pulled by an unstoppable force
moving at unfathomable speed
which is also Time

why put yourself through the dark cold winter?

is summer sun sweeter

because of winter snow 

or is that just something we say

she is metric

her cervix is dilated one centimeter
she is metric

Vocab Check

Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants.

The etymology of "marijuana" dates back to the 1930s when it was popularized by the first Narc.

Let's keep the science terms and drop the fear slang. 

2018 Garden Post #3

Nathan had two tips for strawberries.  The first was to lay a bed of a straw on the ground so they do not rot.  Hence the name.  The second was a net.  The net will protect you from rodents he said, but you might catch a bird.  He specifically said bird.

I was holding the garden hose and came around the side of the house to the Alley Garden where the strawberry beds are.  Tangled in the plastic netting was a mourning dove.  She was alive.  I ran inside to get a pair of scissors.

That netting is awful shit.  Along the way I needed both hands to untangle her head and I put the scissors at my side and THE SCISSORS GOT TANGLED IN THE NETS and I lost my cool untangling them and she started flapping again and flapped herself into more trouble.

Eventually the scissors came free and I cut the bird free.  She had a netting shaped rectangle on her shoulder the perimeter of which was marked with a thin red line of blood.  After I freed her she sat motionless in the strawberry patch.

I went back to the business of watering the gardens but my soul was burdened and I returned to the alley to check on her.  She was just sitting there in the sun.

I went inside and found my phone and called the animal whoevers but they did not answer.  I went back to the alley and she was still just sitting there in the sun.  I nudged her gently with the handle of the scissors, I wanted her to climb on for a short ride to the shade.  At that point she flew away like nothing had happened but I've been sad about it for days.

Off Book

Off book.
Off phone.
Learn your lyrics. Know the words.
Telling the story is better than reading the story.
Try not to be a fraud, a hack, a clown
degrading the sacred stage.

that said,
these are the words I forgot on Monday
(verse 2 of Candy)
the ghost of Sandman haunts with irony:

Candy says she wonders why we try
I couldn't think of what to say
I had no ready reply 

2018 Garden Post #2

Last year two questions loomed over the garden all summer and autumn,

"Are my neighbors aware of my giant (legal) marijuana plants?"

and

"Why don't they steal them?"

---

I was gifted marijuana seeds around the holidays by a violinist who wishes to remain anonymous.  In late February the Sun emerged and I planted two dozen seeds in my kitchen window.  13 or 14 sprouted.  Then the New England March hit.  I don't use fancy lights or any legitimate Science so they all died and I felt like a simpleton butcher who had tried to play God and failed.

Last week I was giving a tour of the garden and telling that very story when I was approached by a neighbor who wishes to remain anonymous.  He told me that he was aware of my plants last summer.  "I grow indoors" he said a little condescendingly but then he told me that he has Too Many Seedlings and offered me two as a gift.  They have names (Northern Lights and AK48) and they are feminized.  Why would he need to steal my outdoor weed when he has a surplus of superior indoor weed?

---

TOP BOX:  garlic on right and left.  peas in the back.  brocs kale brocs kale brocs.  spinach seedlings in each corner and the entire bed filled with spinach seeds which are starting to pop.

hostas coming back strong.

HILL BOX one: northern lights
HILL BOX two: ak48
HILL BOX three: essentially mirrors TOP BOX with the bed of spinach seed and outer ring of brocs kale brocs kale brocs and also brussel sprouts and cauliflower

NEW CARROT BEDS:  starting to sprout but they blend in too well with and we keep stepping on them

CARROT BUCKETS:  starting to sprout

ZEN GARDEN:  asparagus is booming we are harvesting for the month of may and then letting it go according to Nourse Farms guidebook I've counted 20 spears the difference from the grocery store asparagus is not describable using digital english words

APPLE TREE:  not dead.  need to split on the espalier which is terrifying must call Stevens

CHERRY TREE:  beautiful white flowers

MAGNOLIA TREE: beautiful purple flowers one of my students dad called it a Tulip Tree please never say that again kind sir

STRAWBERRIES:  seem green and boomy but hazy memory of the bar and Jane telling me they should be flowering by now must call Jane to confirm

BLACKBERRIES:  need to trim dead canes but at least 3 or 4 canes are booming

side garden also has a Brussel Sprout and a Cauliflower seedling and last year's mint is just starting to join the party

aunt cris gave us more asparagus crowns so the Alley Garden officially has extended past the house into the backyard

sage and thyme are back from last year (how inspiring!) and the arugula is down.  I keep asking my Old Lady if we can plant the basil, cilantro, rosemary and sage seedlings from Leigh and she keeps reminding me No.

the blueberries are dead.  i can admit it.  I need to pull and compost.

the Compost looks good.  If I can turn every day until tomato time we should be able to plant those maters in a big muddy bed of homemade compost.

Stone Garden is 0.11 acres.  If you are reading this I hope you are inspired to grow a lot of food in a tiny place.

How To Be Happy: Part 11 (Bread)

Make bread.
Humans have made bread

for ten thousand years.

Yeast flour water sugar salt. 

Mix knead wait bake. 

2018 Garden Post #1

It is raining.

The carrot seeds have been planted. Older seeds in the new patches at the end of the driveway where they are most susceptible to hungry critters. Prized purple seeds in protective buckets hidden up in the Zen Garden.

Chamomile spread like a bastard.  I left last year's plant and a large volunteer right next to it.  I moved the largest of the remaining volunteers to the Alley Garden and potted the smallest volunteers as gifts for family and friends.

The beds are filled with Black Earth compost.  Top Bed has garlic growing on both the left and right sides.  I cannot remember if we started it last Fall or this Spring but it's been there a minute.

Someone gifted us a small pot of Parade Roses that I am going to put in front of the Magnolia.  The Cherry tree is bursting with buds but the jury is out wether the Apple seedling survived the winter or not.

The thyme has a dirty brown hat from the winter but I snuck a peek underneath and she's green.  She just needs a trim.  The sage looks tired after the long cold. 

I brought the rosemary inside for the winter but it died of neglect.  We left it inside the window further still to this very day and we break off sprigs when we make chicken soup.

How To Be Happy: Part 10 (Connect)

Use your computer
connect to a human
you otherwise could not connect to
without a computer.
Hello, old friend.

How To Be Happy: Part 9 (Reading)

Read a book
or an article
or an essay.
Infinity words.

How To Be Happy: Part 8 (Birds)

Look outside.
You might see a bird.
Listen.
You might hear her sing.

Easter

The bread is rising.  She is singing at the church job.

There is Potential while bread is rising.  Patience sucks so slice her open down the middle and stuff with chores and records and coffee and try not to poke the wound for a while.

I used the Kitchen Aid my grandfather gave me.  This is the first Easter without Gramps and Mom is particularly sad.

Yesterday I took down three sections of fence and stacked it to burn at parties.  I never liked the fence.  The yard is open and beautiful now and the fences weren't fooling anyone.  We don't own little dogs.

It's Easter Sunday and I'm trying to copy your writing style.  I wear it like a hat that doesn't fit and I know it doesn't fit but when I look in the mirror I like what I see.

Mikhail Kalashnikov

Question from Mikhail Kalashnikov to Russian Orthodox Church 2014:

"I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle claimed people's lives, then can it be that I... a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?"
Response from Patriarch Kirill:

"the church has a well-defined position when the weapon is defense of the Motherland, the Church supports its creators and the military, which use it."

She Sleeps

She sleeps better than I do.
I wake up to drink water.  I wake up to pee.  She sleeps.

The cat comes in.
Lies down.  Gets up.  Walks around.
I pet the cat.  He is not still.  I fight the cat.  It's his fault.  Eject him from the room.
She sleeps.

I grab Amanda's poetry book and Amanda's book about asking
and make coffee.  She sleeps.

I read the news and the sports and another poem and another chapter.
Plows scrape the street.
Today is a free day for sleeping and I'm making a list.
She sleeps.