Poverty Oat Grass / Subsistence

 

This little poem is found in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Poetic Inventory: https://cvnp.travelingstanzas.com/poetic-inventory/poverty-oatgrass

Subsistence

This plant can grow anywhere—sun, shade,

sand, shallow topsoil, no water for weeks. It’s like

living on government cheese, powdered milk,

mcintosh apples that ended up in golden delicious bags,

chicken necks making the broth for soup.

This plant is putting out flowers half the summer,

waiting for cross-fertilization, but just in case

it turns out to be a bad year here’s a self-

pollinating bud in reserve. It’s like hoping that man

will keep a job, putting the baby in a dresser drawer to sleep,

handing down the shoes through all six kids.

This plant twirls curly dry leaves around its base—

protective, decorative, maybe a fire hazard—

making a party out of death. It’s like scrounging enough sugar

for a raisin pie, borrowing a suit for the funeral,

splitting a beer after dinner when the kids have gone to bed.