To celebrate National Poetry Month, The Poetry Box is sharing a Poem-of-the-Day, selected from various anthologies and individual poet collections that we have published over the years.
Please enjoy today’s selection: “Fertilized by Mark Strand” by Ada Jill Schneider, which appears in The Poeming Pigeon: Poems from the Garden:
Fertilized by Mark Strand
“I have been eating poetry.”
Sun sweat drips into my eyes,
sonnets bounce in the rain;
in a garden patch mulched with feelings
I have been planting poetry.
The earth is mealy, rich with fragrant
lavender, scented geraniums. I tousle each
fl ower, mot juste; prune, lop and top
till my face is red as rhubarb.
I want to spray cool water over my head
till puddles form in my yellow Jollys,
trickle into rivulets circling pale sage,
licorice tarragon, lickable, palpable
poetry I cultivate. My roots dig deep
into time, reaching Rachel’s tomb.
Lush psalms spill out of my basket
and I swear I attract hummingbirds.
