Steve Berman Potery

The old house on five acres
a couple miles outside of town
only year since we left and look
the blackberries are back
as if they meant to overrun
the whole damn place
some trees have died but
most have made it through
the pond is dry, but given that it’s August
no surprise there
what’s surprising are the quinces
I planted ten years back along the driveway
a week of watering and already
they’re not just looking fresh
they’re blossoming!
All day it’s quiet
but as dusk comes on the piping
of the tree frogs and the shrill
cacophony of crickets
and whatever small musicians
the grass is hiding
a thousand little voices
fill the dark until it’s hard to think
Too late now to move back
our house in town is everything we wanted
but this place with the creek
the ponderosas, oaks, and thirty years
of plantngs and of memories
it’s no little thing to let it go
no little thing

Steve Berman
August 23, 2020