The last crops of the season are being plucked from gardens across Texas — at least if human gardeners can get to them before the other creatures! That’s the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.
The Thieves of Delight
figs, tomatoes
melons and squash
all ripening upon
the vine
avidly waiting
anticipating
the fruits of our garden
so fine
but the birds and the squirrels
the beetles and bugs
seem to have other
ideas
and by cover of night
when the fruit’s *almost* ripe
they feast upon
all of these
we wake in the morning
excited to go
to pick the first yield
of the season
and seeing the half-eaten
remnants of all
that hard work is when
i lost my reason
and that, officer
is why
i burned
my backyard
down
Produced by Laura Rice.
