When Carrots Are Burning Off

Horti-Cultural Small Lives

When Carrots Are Burning Off

Four drilled rows
to a bed,
heat-germinated carrots
barely two-leaved
above ground
on Christmas Day,
the waterless carrots
burn off,
acres of stems cook, just
above ground-level,
where the sun concentrates,
selects!

like an oven
that melts all
life-force mystery
so we children had
to give time
from our one holyday
to help plumb
and fit
the half-installed pump
to give,
burn our fingers,
work to connect the
carrotless water.

1996 © Wayne David Knoll