Mallow (Lavatera trimestis)
Here is the blossoming,
blooms and bees burgeoning.
Tendrils unfurl, new shoots green
and tender saplings sway shyly
awkward, maidenly and raw-boned
bark- a translucent film slides away
to reveal young leaves bosky and budding.

We had a tea-party one afternoon
for no particular reason other than
the warm weather and abundance
of good company- so many guests in and out
these past few weeks, it’s been chaotic
and lovely to have our house
(quite literally) bursting at the seams..

Grape Hyacinth (Muscari neglectum)
We are planting an orchard!
This is what we have so far:
♥ 2 fig trees
♥ 2 peach trees
♥ 2 apple trees
♥ 2 plum trees
♥ a nectarine tree
♥ an apricot tree
♥ a pomegranate tree
♥ an avocado tree
♥ a mandarin orange tree
♥ a meyer lemon tree
♥ a mexican lime tree
♥ a mango tree
♥ a japanese magnolia tree
♥ a crape myrtle tree
also
♥ strawberries
♥ blueberries
♥ blackberry brambles
♥ mustang grapes
♥ passionflowers
♥ purple honeysuckle
♥ jasmine
♥ wisteria
♥ about a dozen other
flowers and things!

Rubus fructicosus
I just discovered that
in proper botanical language,
the blackberry is not a berry at all,
but instead an aggregate fruit
of numerous drupelets.
Bramble. Bumble-Kite. Bly. Brummel. Brameberry. Scaldhead.

Pinguicula agnata
A particularly fragrant variety
dusted with bug-dissolving sugardew!
The rains have come and I am
digging deeper, putting my roots
into the rich, black dirt and pulling
up others- poison ivy’s tangled,
pernicious creepers don’t harm
me none, I rip the strangling network
right out when the ground is wet.
Remembering where I came from:
I smell like myself again, my precious perfume of
oakmoss, vetiver, sandalwood, cabreuva..
On the Vernal Equinox we spent the night in the woods
by the water, a thin fingernail crescent spinning
above- its reflection that beloved crepuscular blue!
Tree branches were creaking, gossiping with
the owls who fought or mated overhead while we slept.
I feel like myself in the wilderness,
in the forest I am calm- I have remembered
everything there is to know.
Venison stew from deer hunted by
a good friend, bone broth fortifying us
with every useful part- eyes, hooves, spinal cord.
Black bread to mop up the juice.

Hello sofa! I will make Güntherface on you
until you come home with me.

The other day I went on a wee road trip,
in search of exciting junk.
Even though the madness of
the antiquing fair season is just beginning
down here, I still found some
very interesting things..
Amazing repetitions of odd objects,
given new meaning when grouped en masse..
Horns, shells, doorknobs, starfish.
Bicycles, buoys, windows, hands.
Needless to say, I combed through
an incredible amount of utter dreck
as well, as any good treasure hunter must.

These tiny Texas town yield strange wonders,
and an unexpected, neglected beauty.
You could sit for the rest of your life watching
paint peel off the schoolhouse wall..

Sea shrine stage for sea-horse plays?

These German beehives enchanted me-
I wanted to make a bee-city with all of them.
Or live inside one.
To be a bee!

Purple bottles!
They turn from clear to violet
in the sun as a result of the
manganese in them.
I restricted myself to buying
only seven.
It’s storming outside!