The Scarecrow
When you realize you’ve begun
Neglecting the garden, go down
To the garden. Bring a bowl
For the bloated peas, the carrots
That have lost their sweetness,
The split radishes. Twist the last
Shriveled tomatoes off the vines,
Tear the vines off the trellising,
Yank all the trellising out.
Ball the white string the sugar
Snaps climbed up up and toss
It into the trees for the birds
To build their nests with.
Run the tools you left out
In laziness up to the shed,
And fill a pail with motor oil.
Let them soak like athletes,
But bring the hoe back.
Don’t bother avoiding stepping
On the beds. You’ll make them
Again come spring. Whatever
Anger you harbor against
The president’s foreign policy,
Take it out hoeing and sowing,
Liberally, almost radically,
The winter rye. Find the rain
Gauge you stabbed into
The vampiric ground, then,
No matter how discolored
The water, drink your measure,
But keep your eyes closed
As you tip your head back.
Now you may open them.
See above you the scarecrow.
The burlap bag of his head.
The tangled twine of his hair.
The blue buttons you sewed
Onto rounds of white cloth.
The upside-down triangle
That is his nose. The red yarn
Of his lecherous mouth.
Remember how you considered
Whether to make him joyful
Or sorrowful and settled
For some state in between.
Snip with scissors the zip ties
That kept his straw hat from
Blowing off in the summer storms.
Unbutton his flannel shirt,
Bare his garbage bag chest,
Undo his tightly-cinched belt,
Pull down his pants, expose
The pale PVC pipes of his legs,
Slipped over steel posts
You grunted to pound deep
Enough into wet ground,
In April rain. Pull off his boots.
Now embrace him, don’t be shy.
Hug his body in half pulling
The garbage bag of straw
Out of the pail of his torso.
Tear his chest apart as if
You’re searching for his heart,
Then scatter his body
Over the beds you sowed
For the rye to seethe up through.
Stuff his shirt and jeans
And hat and boots into the pail.
Carry the pail up to the house.
Wash his clothes and hang
Them to dry. Go back inside.
Sit down. Begin the poem.