One Spring
she planted periwinkles in the front yard…
spread them over two clouds of dirt
she herself forest rangered up
wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow
from the backyard

southern grit barefoot
inside her old faded gray gumboots
silently rising to her own occasion.

She was the needle
in our suburban
neighborhood haystack
of wives and mothers.
She was our skyscraper.
She was our Sears and Roebuck
Christmas storefront window

every single day.