Quarter-Acre Plot
by Christopher James
QUARTER-ACRE PLOT
I.
I am seven years old
pulling weeds
as my grandfather tells me stories
in his quarter-acre garden,
carrying them to a pile
hidden behind the grand sweeping branches
of my grandmother’s Norway Spruce
to be covered by grass clippings
eggshells
potato peels
coffee grounds
leaves
broken branches
from the sick maple we’ll cut down in the fall,
watching as he turned this pile,
listening while he explained
how the pitchfork
was forged when his father was young,
when farm carts
were still pulled by horses,
bringing produce to the valley
in the slow creaking hours
before the dawn woke the townsfolk,
nodding at the wisdom of my grandfather’s grandfather—
a man who inhabited a daguerreotype world
wearing overalls,
a homespun shirt,
and a somber expression.
He traded potatoes,
fresh eggs,
syrup, and carrots
for the goods he couldn’t make
and stored honey in five-pound cans
stacked like bricks in his basement.
They were cash poor, but never hungry,
always warm and scrubbed clean
in the family pew on Sunday.
II.
I am ten years old,
laughing as my grandfather
pumps cold artesian water from the earth
to fill our watering cans
and then stooping
to let the water flow
over head
and down his strong back,
plucking ripe, sun-warmed tomatoes,
slicing them and feeling the juice run,
sharing them,
firm and red under the summer sun,
while he speaks softly of seeds,
humus,
and plans for next season,
putting up preserves
against the long, cold dark of winter.
III.
I am forty-five years old,
remembering how to live,
plotting our quarter-acre garden,
with my wife as she spins wool beside the fire.
The cold months are here,
have been for a while,
but our tomatoes are growing
under glass
and waiting for spring.
CHRISTOPHER JAMES
Christopher James is an award-winning poet and author settled in the old, low mountains of Upstate New York. He is a husband and father, an Army veteran, a lover of moss, and an unabashed promoter of second breakfast. His words can be found in The Way Back to Ourselves, Duckhead Journal, The Dewdrop, and more. Please visit his website: www.christopherjameswrites.com or find him on Instagram @christopherjameswrites.