The Convening of Gardeners

The red fingers of a dahlia
almost hide his shyness
as we talk the entire night,
troweling each other's lives.
He almost hides his shyness
with slices from an old journal.
We trowel each other's lives
in newly revised poems
and slices from old journals.
During a five-hour dinner
we weed each other's poems
while candle flames seed our eyes,
and after the long dinner,
we sit apart on his den floor.
Candle flames bud in our eyes.
We observe his moonlit garden
as we sit near on his den floor
and talk through the night.
At dawn his garden invites:
the sturdy, red fingers of dahlias.

© 1995 by Kathy Banas

Kathy Banas is a Seattle writer and math teacher. Her work is recently published or forthcoming in Northwest Poet's and Artist's Calendar '96, Poets On:, The Raven Chronicles, and several other publications.