Poetry Exercises III

Hope, etc.

Her carefully placing a  

winter carrot in her shoe. 

Deciding 30% recurrence isn’t 70. 

People in parks drawing in very small  

notebooks. 

Soft-spoken young woman 

asking if she can zoom in to poetry  

class next week as she’ll be in  

Valencia, at her sister’s. 

Solitary lilac saffron crocus in the  

neglected part of your garden – cutting  

three tiny bloodred pistils, drying  

them on the stove. 

Picture of Vladimir chasing butterflies 

with his net

his chunky body, his bold head.

Checking out prices for a  

membership at the athletics club for  

after the operation, at sixty-three. 

Still writing and reading poetry. 

Hummingbird hawkmoth 

– looked it up –  

diligently sucking nectar  

from the verbena flowers. 

Single mum who choked up  

when she read the last line of her  

poem – it’s about her kids. 

Selecting a new recipe the night  

before and making a grocery list. 

Watering the freshly planted seeds at  

the end of the summer, when the  

forecast said rain.