#1707 - it's the ragweed not the goldenrod

 

1707

5.275

2.x.24

it’s the ragweed not the goldenrod

notes towards a villanelle

for Jordan and Sue

 

this season

chokes you up

 

one’s bright

the other hides its head

 

too heavy to fly

the goldenrod pollen

 

so it’s not the flashman after all

it’s the one who hides under

 

there is conspiracy of herbs

 

there’s spittle bug

 

black birch

tastes sarsaparilla

 

there’s a treaty between the root and the fungus

 

the body prisoner of illusion

it’s the old soul inversion

 

not what seems

like the shouting sun

the undermelt

 

it’s the little guy, the unassuming

chokes you up

 

as if there were heart in a mystery

 

found out

a dogsbane lookalike

easy to blame

or else

 

you think it’s money is the thing that lacks

money’s our least wise

 

here’s the upside down

the inside out

 

there’s bee balm

and the locust lumber

 

sheep sorrel shines

 

all of this must mean somehow

 

leaves of three say let it be

but that’s not how we fly

 

watch out for the little guy

 

as if thorns to defend

red cedar hawthorn

as if Velcro

or where I’m from

the farmer’s friend

 

here’s motherwort for the heart

bitter tincture under tongue

 

when woddsorrel

whistle wetter

 

snake root comes in the fall

it’s just there

the deer won’t touch it either

 

it’s almost as if nature knew

as if it had a sense of colour

 

hills fracked

white ash dying around

 

blame a borer

where’s the borer from?

 

how can these names matter?

 

it’s not the goldenrod

it’s the ragweed

chokes you up

 

all but the grasses lay down their heads

and are we not all that way headed?

 

all but the grasses are known