PLANTAIN

Make peace with the persistent plantain—
interloper in the hallowed lawn.
Set it free in the garden plot
and it will lift leaves in ample thanksgiving.

Ancient apothecaries knew its powers—
cures forgotten by urbane suburbanites
who openly plot its overthrow
with a malediction and a murderous eye.

Even Dürer knew its measure—
a healing balm, a sign of blood;
and chose to lay its prophetic portrait
at the feet of the Holy Mother and Child.

So let it live as cure and symbol;
consider its once reverenced place.
Take its relentless tenacity for hope
and its history as surety of life.

forthcoming in The Deronda Review (formerly The Neovictorian/Cochlea)

THE OCCASIONAL FIRE

POEMS
Life Scroll
Spirit Wings
Death in the Family
Flight Chief
Legacy
Honeymoon Photo, October, 1939
49 Chevy
The Seed of Me
Land of Rest
On Allison's Leaving
Telecom's Bequest
Starbucks, Tuesday, 3:36 p.m.
Action Still
Vital Meaning
Fools

HYMNS
God will not let us go
The rising sun blazed out of night
Light! Light! A shattering light
Worship the Lord
As a doe

ABOUT MARK RHOADS