Blood Worm Moon, When the Soil Warms Enough for Earthworms to Emerge
After an essay by Margaret Renkl
The almanac says today is the best day to castrate animals,
but I haven’t any, which is why, perhaps, the day has passed
in a fog. If I hold out long enough, it will be tomorrow,
the best day for making jam. Odd, since March is not known
for harvesting fruit, but I can stretch make to mean
open the refrigerator door, fetch a jar of raspberry spread
which is bright red, not like the blood worm moon last week—
that moon mineral red, the color of rust, of iron ore dust.
My mother would say tomorrow is another day to get through
days like this, when locomotive clouds rumble
across a steely sky and weather reports are enough
to keep me inside, away from windows. I hope the earthworms
wait a few more days to make their presence known,
safe among the buckwheat roots in their silty homes.
_____________
Suzy Harris