C. B. Anderson
<-- Change the channel | BACK TO THE GUIDE | More of this channel -->
South of Eden
They also serve, who only wait at home
and sow their carrot seed in fertile loam,
in gardens just outside the kitchen door.
In times of need, especially times of war,
agrarian pursuits renew the lease
on life, the comfiture of inner peace,
that many noncombatants thought had gone
away forever.
Written in the dawn,
there is a subtext every gardener knows
by heart: a quaint bucolic ode the rows
of vegetables attest; a summer song
that’s manifested in the over-long
endurance daylight shows while staving off
the coming night; and measured lines of soph-
omoric prose, which prove too difficult
for those who’ve never tasted labor’s salt
to comprehend.
It’s all about the land,
the land worth fighting for where neighbors stand
together, tethered to a promise made
before the duty owed to clan was laid
in stone, before the right to life was shown
to be a gift impossible to own.
Though seed is sown to meet the creature need
of far tomorrows, nothing’s guaranteed.
And Every Dog His Day
There’s no such thing as dog years. You were fooled
By sentimental nincompoops who don’t
Know how to count correctly, twits unschooled
In logic or in basic facts who won’t
Admit that they are misinformed: A year’s
A year, no more, for any creature caught
Inside of one. The bucketful of tears
You’ll cry, despite the sappy lie you bought,
Won’t taste the slightest bit less salty, when
The last good-bye is spoken, just because
You multiplied by seven. Good young men
Have died whose total hours spent dozing was
About the same an average dog expects
In half as many days. To get a true
Idea what a canine span projects
To, count the years and then divide by two.
With due respect to idle napping dogs,
Their lifetimes are suspended while they sleep;
They are, at best, imperfect analogues
Of we who weep… and work to earn our keep.
Bio
C.B. Anderson was the longtime gardener for the PBS television series, The Victory Garden. Hundreds of his poems have appeared in scores of print and electronic journals out of North America, Great Britain, Australia, Ireland & India.