The century plant

 Larger than life but not as long


10 feet wide and 6 feet tall

arching leaves in grey-green

the color of my eyes


Larger than life but not as long


Heavily spiked with a prickly margin

able to pierce you deeply

a wound slow to heal


Larger than life but not as long 


Flowering just once near its end

mild toxicity becomes Mezcal

my bite reels you in other ways


Agave americana


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A City Moves (Hibbing, MN)

You’ve heard of earthquakes  and landslides, but have you seen  the effects of a mining company?  in northern Minnesota 1919 188 buildings, businesses, and houses  were relocated  2 miles and then some  from their previous locations all because of political affiliations  New sewer, water, and electricity  loaded with manpower and steam  touted down new streets  When what is underneath you  is more valuable than above  people make choices for the families that they love https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2012/10/relocation-hibbing-1919-1921/
Read more

A scary story

Image
A full moon would have welcomed this night but instead a wee slice hung like a hook in the marcasite sky. The rough road made the car pitch and veer until I slowed to a snails pace. I was never going to the get to the poetry reading on time, who found this great short cut on that stupid map?  Of course, I had, someone who actually owned a paper map of the national forest roads in the county. Mostly logging roads, pitted with deep potholes from skidders and semis. My little Hyundai was doing pretty good so I should have given her more credit that the grief as I beat on the dash when she finally plopped into one of the holes and decided she’d gone far enough.  The tires spun in the mud, I tried to rock’er back and forth to no avail. No poetry reading for me I thought. It was still early, barely 6 but dusk was here and of course as I picked up my cellphone from the passenger side floorboard, I saw the “no service” right away.  Now what, it was at least three miles ...
Read more