You arrived uninvited,
Unnoticed, ignored
Until almost too late.
Toxic roots spreading,
Usurping fragrant flowers
Purposefully transplanted
Now firmly established in the land.
Ignoring your presence
Grants permission to grow
As you force out blues, greens, yellows, reds
Collaborations of colors
Creating a harmonious home
Welcoming guests
Who celebrate our plush medleys
Of my motley oasis.
I will pluck you from my plot
When you are young
Before your toxicity spreads,
Air plenty of fervent heat
Turning your septic seed to soil
Fit to return and nourish my garden.
How Does It Happen?
I suspect many problems grow because too few people are willing to be the first to speak up.
Maybe we’re trying to be polite. Maybe we’re trying to avoid conflict. Maybe we’re worried about being labeled difficult, overly sensitive, dramatic, woke, or any number of other dismissive terms designed to end a conversation before it begins.
So we stay quiet. The trouble is that silence is often mistaken for agreement.
There are times when being a good neighbor, friend, coworker, citizen, or human being requires a little discomfort. It requires risking eye rolls, criticism, and accusations of making a big deal out of nothing.
Sometimes the people who are told they are overreacting are simply the first people willing to react at all.
Author’s Note: I wrote this poem a few summers ago when I saw racism take a more visible hold in our country again. At the same time, I was struggling with weeds from the empty lot across the street invading my lawn at the same time, so I tried to make a comparison between the two. The heat I mention in the last stanza is meant to represent putting somebody through a refining fire that will hopefully change hate into, at the least, understanding. Please share this poem if you appreciate my thoughts and want to help convert the toxic weeds that have invaded our gardens.
Click here to read more of my poetry. If you liked this poem, you might also appreciate this one.