Monday, April 11, 2011

Drought

The Prompt: "This week, we're giving you a photo to take you back in time."


It's late June.  The spring rains have come and gone. The heat and humidity feel more like late July. The yard is scarred with cracked earth.

The flowers and vegetables, planted with hopes of summer color and fall bounty, are withering. The new fruit trees are trying desperately to force young roots deep enough to find water.

Every day, in the late afternoon, he pulls the hose behind him. He goes from garden to garden, sapling to sapling, soaking the soil.   Leaves that have sagged under the midday sun begin to rise with tentative hope.

He waters the new grass, but most of the precious liquid runs into deep fissures, never touching the young roots.  The only thing that keeps this spot green are old, established shade trees.

As the sun lowers in the sky I join him. We walk each garden together, assessing each plant.  We wish it would rain. We wish the stifling heat would ease. We wish for winter.

6 comments:

  1. i loved how descriptive you were here, with the humidity and the withering visuals, how the leaves rise with hope... really really good. i can picture it clearly in my head, along with that longing for the humidity to ease!

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  2. Very good imagery. It feels like I'm walking beside you : ) It can get so humid and stifling in the summers.

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  3. I love this moment in time. Such a vivid memory.

    My favorite part: "The yard is scarred with cracked earth." poetry. Pure visual poetry.

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  4. This is so very descriptive. I loved this part:
    Leaves that have sagged under the midday sun begin to rise with tentative hope.

    I never exactly wish for winter, but the humidity can be so very draining during the dead heat of summer!

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  5. @Jenna
    @Leah
    @Galit
    @Angela

    Thank you all for stopping by and commenting. It was a long hot summer. We're still waiting to see how much we saved.

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  6. This is just so withered, so beautifully crushed.

    Galit was right, poetic.

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