The Plant World
Any minute now the green beans
will crack the soil and thrust
their blunt heads skyward.
Already the chives are needling up
beside the frilly row of carrots.
The banana tree muscles back from a stump,
while the lilac morphs from sticks to blooms.
This summer I will split open
the striped belly of a 20-pound watermelon
sprung from a seed smaller than a dime.
I live simply,
with no hope for humanity,
cheered by the sturdy world of plants.
JEAN RYAN’s debut collection of short stories, Survival Skills, was published by Ashland Creek Press and short-listed for a Lambda Literary Award. Read more.