Slugs eat marigolds. Rain-rotted
tomatoes fall. After thirty days
of rain the curly weeping willow
leaves turn black-spotted. Firs lose
their footing across downed power lines
after the hill slides. Moles rise
to the surface. Bird feeders shake
over the riot of sodden sage, thyme,
defeated dahlias, soggy clumps
of faded blue hydrangeas. Sunflowers
hang their heads, no sun to turn to.
No clear skies forecasted. Everything
waiting for the tectonic plates
to shift – the big quake to come.
—
Susan Landgraf’s Out of a Land of Alkali and Chromate will be published May 2025. Previous books include Journey of Trees, Crossings, The Inspired Poet, What We Bury Changes the Ground, and Other Voices. An Academy of American Poet Laureates award resulted in A Muckleshoot Poetry Anthology published by WSU Press in 2024. She’s published more than 400 poems in Nimrod, Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore and others. She served as Auburn’s Poet Laureate from 2018-2020.
