Overgrown by Phyllis Wentworth

You don’t have to keep up with the backyard –

The stonewall no longer visible,
the rhubarb gone to seed again,
the mint laying Napoleonic claim
to all corners of the raised bed.

It will all wait
for the grief
to ponderously lift,
for

the return of your spotted hands,
the rusted hack saw on the weed trees,
the swing made free
of the tangled vines.



Phyllis Wentworth is a Maine native who teaches in Boston. She writes poetry to stay in touch with the cathartic bursts of creativity she felt as a child.