I search for meaning

as it slips from my grasp.

 

My organic garden a teacher.

 

A magnolia, once

vibrant and full of life

snapped from its weight

of exuberance.

 

A laurel died inexplicably.

The ground too wet?

Its neighbors soared.

 

Slugs saw tiny tomato plants

as tender morsels and

ruthlessly devoured them.

 

It seems a

crop-duster must

have misunderstood

the instructions

 

and blanket sprayed

our country with

insecticides and pesticides.

 

Their bosses plan

 to sell it as clean air.

 

The ground crew

chain-sawed all the trees and call

what's left the new America.

 

I look at a

desolation

that has karate

chopped hope

 

and try hard to breathe

but can only gasp.