YVETTE A. SCHNOEKER-SHORB

The Gardener

It must be something about frustration

that drives people like that nice lady,

determined, frowning, stooped down,

and hovering, shovel thrown nearby,

over the weedy growth in her garden,

her faded straw hat protruding

among the colorful hollyhocks,

gladiolas, daffodils, petunias, roses,

lilacs, and other assorted blooms

I cannot name as I watch

from the sidewalk. She looks up,

smiles politely as I pass by,

seeing that I am careful

to sidestep the closely cut grass

across from her wrought iron fence,

then continues an ambitious attack

with a portable chainsaw on whatever

green she considers unwelcome.

Yvette A. Schnoeker-Shorb’s poetry has appeared in numerous publications including Kudzu Review, Sierra Nevada Review, Dark Matter: A Journal of Speculative Writing, Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built and Natural Environments, Paradise Review, Pedestal Magazine, Concho River Review, The Voices Project, Weber: The Contemporary West, and other journals and online forums.  A past Pushcart Prize nominee, she holds an interdisciplinary MA from Prescott College and is co-founder of Native West Press, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit natural history press.