A.G. Price

Unstable Ground

A.G. Price

I am like the ground here Unstable Eroded and unable To hold myself intact Crumbling Dissolving

Time and weather Have conspired with neglect To betray both property line And foundation No longer able to support any structure Shifting and ever sliding Downward Unabated To the very bottom

No Not yet The property owner in me Rises up I can plant things Things I can hold on to Good things for myself Like flowers and shrubbery Trees Not trees Perhaps lay some eco-friendly matting Made of straw or coconut fibers

Yes I will terrace and put in baffles I will mulch and landscape Turfgrass will be my new regimen I still have time Time to repair the damage Time to abate the slide Downward

But not today My storm clouds have returned Looming blackish-grey All earth moving resolve Swallowed up whole Like a ramshackle poolside cabana Collapsing into a Florida sinkhole After a heavy rain

Who landscapes in the rain anyway