Annual Contention
by Jan Wood
in the boreal zone
spring waters atone for winter wounds
binding them
in moss and fern sending
a stream of trapped sap
pulsing in the veins of birch
poplar-leaf laundry is hung
out on branch lines
tamarack spines needle the air
threadbare meadows return
from frozen paralysis
swaying willow skirts
and wind flirts teasing stubborn snow
ridges on the moist dirt
hillsides in lush lime coats
wear dandelion boutonnieres
and home-sown greenery appears
in back yard plots
and pots on decks
nothing reflects the difference
between the natural leafing
and the manipulated ones
both stimulate
and rejuvenate
and quell a perspective
of collective winter pessimism
but it takes a bit of grit
and resilience
to grow anything deliberately
on the brink of taiga possession
nothing rivals forest aggression
by mid-summer there will be
a degree of disappointment
in the utterly insignificant greens
of carrots and beans planted
near spruce stands that
confront the sky
perfumed in dew-mist
swaying a summer lullaby
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