Weeds of Anger

A man who plowed America’s future
for a money crop had milked him dry,
he had his garden left. He thought
of roots to match his anger and
planted the toughest weeds he knew;
bull thistle, ragweed, mustard and tansy,
dogfennel, spiderwort, burdock and
wild morning glory. He’d fought them
all his life to keep his farm clean
and now he planted them! They grew,
god, how they grew, a forest of stalks,
flower explosions and pollen everywhere.
The neighbors scolded him but he felt saved
from something, from diminished rights,
as he gained a freehold on the
estate of man.