Crusty, mousy brown pods,
that only a month before was a pleasant prickly green,
tops so pointed,
they nip the fingertips,
breaking the stem,
brings oozing milk
in the circumference of the shoot;
cool weather matures this plant
and the pod –
broken open,
full of white, fuzzy seeds –
catching the crisp air,
lofting,
settling over the fields
in a web ready to take root for next year’s crop.

Michellia D. Wilson 8/13/2016