pulling vines from the silver extension ladder. some are tiny-leaved and brown
some still thick and prickly with blackberries in pudges
and the ladder goes up. it's heavy and my son and i navigate it
never too sure about which way might set a rung lock fail
so trying to hold fingers carefully
while managing the weight
using short cut branches from the avocado tree i sweep,
sweep away remnants of fallen pale green buds
that get into roof tile cracks, limning it as if with gold
scooting close to the edge to reach up
and trim the tree away from the roof
before he goes
Anne F. Walker completed doctoral work in American Urban Poetics at the University of California, Berkeley, after beginning her poetry career in Toronto. The Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Creates, the Ontario Arts Council, and bpNichol Memorial Foundation honored her work with numerous grants. UC Berkeley twice awarded her poetry its Eisner Prize. Her sixth book of poetry, Ink and Ink and Flesh and Length, was shortlisted for the Sexton Poetry Prize as a manuscript, and published in 2025 (The Black Spring Press Group / Eyewear Publishing). Walker lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, teaching writing at San José State University.
the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan
No comments:
Post a Comment