Greenhouses

[Colm Roe]

Hi Deb,
Thanks for the read and comments 
There's a found poem here too.

'This brings to mind my grandparent's huge garden that fed their big family and how the entire process has sown layers of riches into my being. They used crops to barter for dairy goods and flour. The traditions of growing dill and cucumbers then canning it all into mason jars to make the best dill pickles I ever ate are brought to mind. Thanks for jarring those memories (pun absolutely intended) because now I must pick my Aunt Susie's brain for the recipe and hope she still has it.'

[Tracy Mitchell]

There is a reverence in these lines for this family’s lineage, the movement from generation, and the woman’s stewardship.  Each of the four stanzas is asked to stand on its own.  S.1 is exquisite.  What a compelling opening – the reader is warmly invited into the poem.  So is S.2 in a different way.  I like the treasure/measured play.  S.3 – I suggest considering deleting “oldest most revered” so that the text would read: “. . . around a photograph/between the sink . . . .”  I think the importance to the family is implied by the mention, and its placement.  S.4 is both accessible and perplexing to me.  Almost like a koan, I keep reflecting on it’s meaning and feel something just beyond my ability to articulate.  Sometimes I think our foundations are collections of small things, of the small things we do and the small things we remember.  Here, I think the matriarch wants small greenhouses because they are more thoroughly manageable.   I know I will be back to this on.

Cheers.

ps --I am so late to the party -- sorry about that.