Pachysandra
Pulling up pachysandra:
yank a long root,
and it leads to another knot of leaves
a foot away.
This thick matte of growth
has swallowed balls and toys
and a gardener's spade-
the mangled handle hints
that it was two owners ago,
the one's with a dog.
Scary stuff this pachysandra.
To reach in to retrieve
is to wonder what
you'll touch or what
will touch you
claw and bite and swallow
as your finger's splash into green leaf,
and your hand disappears into the thick burgeoning growth
of deceptively tall low plant.
And it's up over your wrist
And you can't help but wonder
what else is underneath.
What lurks there
waiting.
Poet's Paper, Anderie Poetry Press, Winter/Spring (Jan)1999
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