I’ve spent pandemic days,
garden-gazing
while keeping the agenda
working
powerpointing perfectly
I see bursting buds, decay
and slowly watch the seasons
passing, dressed
in coveralls and sturdy boots
or sometimes chasing squirrels
in its summer dress,
giggling with the blackbirds.
I said garden, but
you might say that our property
is really just
a piece of woodland
were the deer may pass
(or giving birth),
where woodpeckers may peck
where doves can coo
and the only predator
is the neighbor’s cat
and maybe even me.
So gardening for me,
is being more
the cutter with the scythe
and wielder of the axe;
so as the seasons pass
I may continue garden-gazing
while deer keep grazing
and squirrels search for acorns
they have stashed somewhere —
forgotten.
Today we continue our tenth year celebration with Poetics at dVerse. We have a guesthost who wants us to write about garden and gardening. The last year our little property has become more important since we spend almost every day at home.
July 13, 2021
Björn Rudbergs writings 
This sounds like the best kind of garden to me Björn: how wonderful! You hardly need that Google screensaver.
i love a good piece of woodland where you can watch deers – sounds like a magical place – and what a view while powerpointing – ha
I have really been sitting here watching how it has been changing in these confusing times.
I love this as I can so relate and have the same woodland view but thousands of miles away from yours.
This is such a heartfelt write, Bjorn! I love; “I said garden, but you might say that our property is really just a piece of woodland where the deer may pass (or giving birth), where woodpeckers may peck
where doves can coo and the only predator is the neighbor’s cat and maybe even me.” 💝💝
enjoyed the poem Bjorn!
I have plenty of those squirrels and even family of about six or seven deer that often visit my yard and eat. Right now there’s several Spike that are coming to eat. So when it comes to a garden they tend to eat that so it’s hard for us to actually go off a garden so my gardening is busting up the logs and wielding that ax myself. And even sometimes the Skythe.
The pandemic was really weird for us as teachers. My school was actually in school. Students came two days a week and could get pulled in for a third. We still got to watch the kids grow up but it was a bigger gap between each time we saw them.
But the seasons changed and here we are 3 weeks away from going back to school and doing it every day. Of which I am very thankful..
I have really not been in office for 18 months, and we will continue working from home until the end of the year… so it’s been lifechanging really.
How lovely this is and your view is to die for.
What a lovely view and I am very much into garden gazing. The flowers are perrenials so I just deadhead them by winter and wait for them to arrive again in spring. I so enjoyed your squirrels playing and giggling with the birds – same here too from my window/balcony. Add an occational visit from the coyote and fox hunting for the wild rabbits, and my day is exciting.
Bjorn I’m so glad you posted the view from your window. That view is an elixir that helped get you through the pandemic and continues to work its magic. So pretty! It looks like the state parks near here out by the dunes, where the ground rises to wooded banks.
I’m reading all of these wonderful gardenverses while I’m sitting out on my front porch, looking out at the surrounding forest I consider my garden. You nailed this one BR. Well done!
I love yards that are left natural, and are visited by deer and other creatures. I know I would love your property………..
“and maybe even me” … I love it when you “go there,” turning a sweet poem into something sinister. I was totally expecting you to do your serial-killer thing at the end. 🙂
A delightful scene you have created with your words and shared with your photo. 🌞
A perfect spot of peacefulness
This is a beautiful poem Bjorn. I love the view from your window. Natures garden takes good care of itself and the creatures that live there, including you!
Thanks for the view. A pandemic haven i would say. Stay Safe and Creative
Much💜love
I really love these lines:
“I see bursting buds, decay
and slowly watch the seasons
passing, dressed
in coveralls and sturdy boots
or sometimes chasing squirrels
in its summer dress,
giggling with the blackbirds.”
Just perfect. And what a beautiful garden to have!
spent my childhood playing in the forest named after my home town. your poem andd pic brought back some childhood memories thank you
Garden gazing is a noble pastime! My husband brush hogged part of the pasture I wanted left but he likes paths and jumped a dozen rabbits and several fawns. I have a garden so these creatures are pests to me. Maybe they’ll find a friendlier pasture. In truth…we are the most voracious predators.
We have foxes that have done the “stashed somewhere —
forgotten” trick. Digging up the begonias, and then not remembering in whose garden their goodies are waiting.
Nice. This sounds much like my gardening when I lived in the Black Forest (of Colorado). Just clearing the weeds and branches so that the wildflower meadow remained visible.
Love the woodland gardens. I was excavating an old burn pile on the edge of my woods and found a whole peanut shell probably buried by a blue jay 25 years ago. Going to put in a hellebore garden cuz it’s deer resistant.
‘in coveralls and sturdy boots’ ….. here I sit remembering exactly how my grandparents dressed for hours spent in their fields. Sigh. I enjoyed your poem, Bjorn.
Beautiful view Bjorn, and a wonderful poem —
“So gardening for me,
is being more
the cutter with the scythe
and wielder of the axe”
…quite apropos! 🙂
Sounds a pretty good garden to me, certainly looks a fantastic view to have as you work. Great poem, thank you
I really enjoyed this and all of your descriptions, and you have a wonderful pandemic garden view.
Seasons dressed in coveralls and sturdy boots…lovely personification.
This is beautifully heartfelt. A hint of pandemic sorrow. And the solace from looking at nature and seasons passing. Makes me want to go to a cabin in the woods for a while.
quite the view, Bjorn. I like the gentle tone of this pen – a light touch to paper and garden, both ~
Working from home is a change to the new normal that brings nature’s best right before our eyes. A new experience for many!
Hank
for me wild gardens are the best, so take that scythe and own it, Bjorn.