Robert Fillman: “He Plants Seeds”

HE PLANTS SEEDS

Down at the end of the lot,
kneeling in the loam, two hands
held out like a heart, this spring

he opens himself slowly
and pours a handful of seed
into the hole, listening

for a moment to each sing
of salvation, such language
vanishing into the trees

above him, like the dashes
and dots of Morse code he learned
in the service. Now he reads

the light that the sun scatters,
the grubs and worms he unearths
as he probes his trowel, hidden

water like a secret held
delicately in his mind.
After he covers the pile,

but before he can move down
the row, he winnows a bit
of dirt through darkened fingers

as his father had taught him,
taking a moment to breathe
the scent lodged beneath his nails.

Robert Fillman‘s chapbook, November Weather Spell, was published in 2019 by Main Street Rag. His poems have appeared in The Hollins CriticNashville Review, Ninth Letter, Poet LorePoetry EastSugar House ReviewTar River Poetry, and others. Fillman is an Assistant Professor at Kutztown University.

Table of Contents | Next Page