Gardening Instructions for New Mothers

by Pamela Manasco

They say any kind of pest could kill

a tomato: a hornworm, powdery mildew, a squirrel

taking a single bite of each

almost ripe berry before spitting

the fruit on the ground, little stepping stones that hope

the next bite will be sweet

& almost anything could happen if you close

your eyes. Apples rotting off the tree. A black vulture

orbiting the field beside your house. 

They tell you, use your ripe tomatoes before they rot

& give a recipe that says to brown the butter, cook it low

past melting, past small bubbles, & warn it will take

a while, so long you might want

to wash a knife instead or tend an unwatered squash, but

don't take your eyes off it. 

Some other mother will tell you it's easy

scheduling water and fertilizer, picking off hornworms

and plunging them in soapy water

to drown, but I want you to know

I can't do it, feeling their squirming bodies even 

through garden gloves I can't touch them,

I want you to know it's okay if the first

year's garden yields nothing, if you sometimes cry

at the farmer's market buying 

overpriced tomatoes, if your one blueberry bush

is alone & the bees don't help & it yields nothing, if you decide 

not to plant it again.