"Harvesting Sunflowers" by Dulce Maria Menendez

Harvesting Sunflowers

While you are gone,

I harvest sunflowers.

It used to be

the same day

everday.

I was stuck

in the Midwest

as the seasons

changed and

the wind blew

as twirly birds

fell on my head.

I let the weeds

grow long and hard

breaking through

the chainlink fence.

While you are gone,

I harvest sunflowers.

I pulled the weeds

with my aging hands

and my garden

grew hummingbirds,

honeybees, and gold

finches.

Yesterday as

everyone looked

up to see the eclipse

I looked down

to see the golden

shadows of my giants

while they talked

among themselves

across the deck

as a mammoth

butterfly swam

across the wood grain.

While you are gone,

I harvest sunflowers.

It is a constant

pushing, pulling, release.

I throw the seeds

back to the earth

and wait for winter

to clutch them

close to her

frozen heart

and like spring

you return.

Mathew Paust, Aug 23, 2017

Poignant and hopeful, spare yet lush. The refrain ties it all together.

Erika Byrne-Ludwig, Aug 23, 2017

So evocative. Beautiful.

Sam Rasnake, Aug 24, 2017

Favorite lines:
"I pulled the weeds
with my aging hands
and my garden
grew hummingbirds,
honeybees, and gold
finches."

Gary Hardaway, Aug 24, 2017

Lovely.

Bill Yarrow, Aug 24, 2017

Love this! Great poem (though ending is a little too Hank Williams).
*

Yesterday as
everyone looked
up to see the eclipse
I looked down
to see the golden
shadows of my giants
as they talked
among themselves
across the deck
while a mammoth
butterfly swam
across the wood grain.Yesterday as
everyone looked
up to see the eclipse
I looked down
to see the golden
shadows of my giants
as they talked
among themselves
across the deck
while a mammoth
butterfly swam
across the wood grain.