Summer, 2024
How to attack those tall weeds in the back
with a scythe. How to love kale, or wisely pretend.
How to watch for emails from David our manager
regarding times for mulch delivery, or the acquisition
of new tools—the garden requires more administering
than you might think. How to hold present and past
in one season. This year, David tells me, he will be absent
at times owing to several trips to Serbia.
Mid-summer, over ready-to-pick beans and plans for clean-up day
he reports
yes, it was a good trip, after a church service I sipped sherry
with the papal nuncio at a reception; of course lots of the local
people
don’t want to interact with us. They still think of Mladic and Karadzic
as heroes.
How to recall with detail. August: It’s twenty-nine years now since
the genocide.
There were six massacre sites in all—when it started they cut off
electricity
to the region so those villages would have no contact
with the outside world.
In the Omarsk concentration camp they got one meal a day,
most days. Many of the survivors left for good
but others felt, you know, this is my home
I won’t let them take it away.
How to water: a last email for the season admonishes, we have
invested in a new hose—
the old one was leaking—please be careful not to wind it any tighter
than necessary, and be especially gentle
with the nozzle.
