last night seeds stood on end / clutched the dust and drilled a burial/
buds grown also overnight / nuzzled dark for light / some no sooner fed / showered petals / like maple trees drop golden leaves / or green flowers / to spread their maps upon the earth / far north of here in Pennsylvania

yesterday / I saw a concrete barricade/ forceful as a heavy boot / beyond it a grassy hill /
a grove / a copse / a knoll /so many words could name a place so innocent
stamped out /
stark / cement forbade access to the gentle slope /
no evidence of who or what had been destroyed / but what I thought was /
fear did this
whoever demands fear will learn / trust betrayed  nourishes defiance
/ disappointed hope builds a weighty force /
whoever teaches fear will learn / bones of lie crumble
/ no skeleton holds the muscle of deceit in place
/ usurpers have nothing worth the force of shutting out  / no place to call their own / /

this morning dog avoids the question in my eyes / cat will not be touched / shallow moon faints in pale blue air / insects wail in strings of yellow

poem and painting by Jo Mariner