Addicted to Hope
The garden of my dreams is likely to stay in dreamland
Seed catalogs
How prettily they lie
Lush vines, bounteous blossoms
The unmolested rose
The blight-less tomato
Rows of lettuce safe from Easter rodent intrusions
A fairyland of perfection
More cunningly curated
More artfully contrived
Than the most insidious infomercial
Lo these many years I’ve toiled
Investing time and legal tender
Hoisting my hopes, egged on by belief in the unattainable
And yet, no latter day Eden has emerged
No toddler brandishing carrots big as baseball bats
Celebrates my efforts
Oh, I grow, I grow,
Imperfect and irregular garlic
Mutant tomatoes
Stunted roses
Small handfuls of peas
Each year I vow to abstain
But resolve dissolves like resolutions in February
I pore o’er the wish book and wonder,
Is this the year, the season of success at last?
The visions…
