Katherine Page
First Garden
Despite trays of lobelia, kilos
of shop-bought soil, the wildlife
gathers force. Cabbages gnawed,
bulbs stolen in a flurry of earth,
tell-tale slime up deflowered stems.
This soil is sour on my hands,
comforts and scares me, as I break
clay packed with crocks and bone,
search out the stark white roots
of bindweed. Arcs of bramble
dog the path. A city fox trails
down berry-stained concrete.
I spend evenings without light,
windows open, the garden growing
wilder, each shift of darkness
magnified by what I’ve seen
on midnight trips to water –
how a toad makes the garden jump
then waits, black-backed in the hebe,
how a snail, horns stirring, attends
the scented feeding grounds.
I wedge the gate, attempting
ownership with all the boundaries
reversed. A watchful passion
is worming in, the harvest unexpected.
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