Garden

The dad plants a garden
in tiny yard in front
of six family
digs up dead rose and forsythia.

In school the kid
gets a box of seeds
to sell for PTA.
The kid don’t know anyone with land
for growing      all stuck in apartments.

The dad buys four packs,
marigolds, portulaca,
zinnia, balsam.
The dad finds old bricks
makes a ring in center of garden
to fill with flowers
and all along front border,
tomatoes, cukes, peppers
all fit into little yard.

The kid and the dad climb
down from front porch
onto a stump or by front stairs
over old wire fence
with rotten wood frame.

In fall dad shows the kid
how to get seeds from dead flowers
for next year      no need to buy from school.

The kid and the dad eat
tomatoes like heaven
straight from the garden
all sun warm and sweet
the kid likes all this growing stuff
sniffs fingers tomato scented.

The ma doesn’t make sauce
or do canning
makes the kid sell tomatoes
door to door
fifty cents a pound.

Eve Rifkah was co-founder of Poetry Oasis, Inc. (1998-2012), a non-profit poetry association dedicated to education and promoting local poets. Founder and editor of DINER, a literary magazine. MFA Vermont College. She is author of Dear Suzanne (WordTech Communications, 2010) and Outcasts: The Penikese Island Leper Hospital 1905-1921 (Little Pear Press, 2010). Chapbook Scar Tissue, (Finishing Line Press, 2017), At the Leprosarium, 2003 winner of the Revelever Chapbook Contest. Her single poems, flash fiction stories and essays have appeared in many journals.