Laurie Belanus Odell 

Weeding

You must begin early, while it is cool
and your head clear, your discernment
a sharpened tine, probing the rocky darkness
for all things latent and destructive.

Be aware that the velvet sageness
of the leaves belies their power
to take over every space, remember
roots burrow deep, anchoring in
crevasses we don’t even know exist.

It is vital that you delve as close
to the origin as possible, or the weed
you think eradicated will bide its time,
germinating in the still secret ground,
waiting for the light of inevitable scrutiny
to penetrate the moist earth, waking the sprout
who voraciously pushes up and out, a curled
blemish in your otherwise carefully tended garden.