the morning garden invites you into
crimson crying down the stone wall
bursting blue yellow
blackgreen indigo orange
white touching grey
and coming back again
daisies shading one another
bee balm for hummingbirds
borage for bees
dahlias roses salvia gentian
name them name them
nasturtiums on your tongue
marigolds on guard
sweet peas on the fence
pushing to the sky
a tapestry of scent
a shouted unheard language
a restless excess
they climb crawl spread sneak
around behind you
lie down take your place among them
join in sink down
let the garden grow
—
Michael Boissevain is a clinical psychologist by training and a poet by avocation, living in Victoria BC on the unceded territory of the Lekwungen speaking peoples. His poetry is forthcoming in The Brussels Review. In 1974, he attended University of Victoria’s Creative Writing program with Robin Skelton, Dirk Wynand, and John Montague. His chapbook The Long Table was shortlisted for the 2024 Raven Press Chapbook Contest. In his writing, Michael gravitates towards themes of family, the land, the environment, and the politics of the complicated world that we all inhabit.
