Marie-Andree Auclair (Ontario, Canada)
I civilize
make good citizens
out of seeds and plants
protect them in a garden plot
in rows and verses
under variegated skies.
Selection is my privilege
as gate-keeper and
principal toiler.
I keep a wild corner
for trap crops, another
for pioneering the peculiar.
I plant and push for a crop
or two, familiar and new,
stake to posts the tomato plants
nip sucker buds, thin carrots
all for order and a future feast.
Yet the untamed too is hungry.
Marie-Andrée Auclair’s poems have found homes in many print and online publications in Canada, the USA and in several other countries; to name a few: Bywords, Canada; Acta Victoriana, Canada; The Helix, USA; High Window, UK and upcoming at Frogmore Papers, UK. She also enjoys photography, traveling and adding to her cooking repertoire after each trip. She lives in Canada.