Volunteer Poem: Weeding in Summer Heat

By John Koenig

In the unison, warm earth coupled to hotter air,

sounds traveling closer to ground,

stillness moderates voices from our kneeling group.

The community farm staff and a volunteer pair,

we loosen and pull the insistence of weeds,

purslane, rounded like saucers, has easy surrender,

and common mallow with lobed leaves,

its roots defiant in the soil.

Alongside industrial farming we'd look an anachronism,

manual labor beneath wide brimmed hats,

gathering Mendel's data on inheritance in peas,

or Impressionist potato farmers unburdening the earth.

To manage fields the horizon's width

corporate farms replace our work with herbicides.

Here, twelve acres portioned from an old truck farm

continue duty for CSAs and city shelter produce.

A mix of women and men,

we braid reading interests, vegetable recipes,

hiking trails, a housing search.

A tripod impact sprinkler sweeps nearby,

in even meter reciting its alphabet,

the water's broken arc a softened weight on plants.

Spring loading yanks the head to another pass,

the only hurry in midday heat.

This work is harder when done alone.

The talk to lend support is effortless,

has anyone solved this problem,

opinions taking switchbacks to converge,

humor sometimes a topic's resting spot.

At the row's end, limp tree leaves know

hours may pass before they move again.

Porch sitting later, the cool night air lifts the sound

two miles away of motorcycles on the interstate,

and cars banging  in the distant rail yard. 

In the quiet that follows, a candle makes inaudible talk,

drawn upward to the air's sweetness,

like fellowship easing the mundane.

John wrote this poem about his time volunteering with us. He is one of our regular volunteers at River Road Neighborhood Farm. We depend on volunteers like John to be able to grow food for places like the Poverello Center and Soft Landing (the two major food partners for River Road). He shows up weekly, knows the ropes, and falls into work with the River Road farmers. He knows where to find the clippers and the harvest knives, knows his weeds from his vegetable plants…all because he comes regularly and has learned from the farmers over time. We are so thankful to have John! And the many other regular volunteers that join our neighborhood farms each summer. If you would like to start volunteering with us, click here!