Leafblowermen

I try not to envy them too much,
their saffron and rust cascades,
their satisfying buzz-growl,
their meaningful vibration.

They're permitted to carry a cannon
and a backpack, and see immediate
return on labor spent. They groom
the hair of the grass.

I imagine them rising from the earth
to meet leaves coming down, nature
clasping hands with itself, and then
blowing its fingers away.

Gary Charles Wilkens earned his Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from The University of Southern Mississippi in 2010. He is currently Assistant Professor of English at Norfolk State University. His first book, The Red Light Was My Mind (2007), won the Texas Review Press Poetry Breakthrough Series Prize in 2006. His poems have also appeared in over 40 journals and anthologies, both in print and online.

TPQ3