After Whitman
When lilacs last in my neighbor’s yard bloom’d,
It was April, as it should have been, and though so dry they droop’d,
I mourned not, and yet I grieve this muddled shrub today.
Amid the ever-returning spring, it, and the iris down the road,
Are both in flower this warm November day,
And so I think of those I love and what they soon may face.
—
Since retiring from Prince George’s Community College in 2021, Dennis Huffman has volunteered as a “Weed Warrior” in the parks near his home. In 2023, he published Decolonizing the Park, a collection of poems and photographs about invasive plants. He is also a facilitator with the Center for Courage and Renewal. He lives in Takoma Park, MD.
