Willow Withes<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My grandfather used willow withes
\ncut from a backyard shade tree
\nto tie back his grapevines to their arbors\u2014
\nleafy rows that bordered
\nthe other crops sewn into his small,
\nhillside farm.<\/p>\n
With a bundle of cut swaths tucked in his belt
\nhe strode the rows like a swashbuckler,
\nwhipping wands and binding unruly growth
\ninto order. Following along
\nwith my armload of cut willow limbs,
\nI could barely keep up.<\/p>\n
I did better with strawberries.
\nscooching my butt down the dusty rows,
\nfilling my grandmother’s big two-handled colander,
\nthe taste of ripe berries erupting warmly
\nagainst my tongue.<\/p>\n
Scooching, too, I could thin carrots
\nwith the best of them,
\ngrasping the lacy tops close to the soil
\nand tugging.
\nThe small, fingerling carrots, rinsed
\nin the tublike yard sink,
\ncrunched sweetly between my teeth.<\/p>\n
Other days I gathered brown eggs
\nfrom the cloying henhouse,
\nor fed the rabbits in their shaded hutches,
\nor broke the ends off stringbeans
\nwith Noni under the backyard willow,
\nher apron a brimming green horn-of-plenty.<\/p>\n
Or watched plains of tomatoes ripening
\non wire-mesh racks,
\nsmoke from the summer kitchen redolent
\nin the fragrant air.<\/p>\n
The green willow withes dried over summer
\nas the wine grapes thickened and set,
\nand by September, when all the family gathered
\nfor harvest, their golden coils seemed
\nan organic part of the vines,<\/p>\n
bound like memories, now
\nwith the farm gone, shoring up the bounty
\nbeneath yellowing leaves,
\nso it can be gathered,
\nand pressed and tasted.<\/p>\n
Setting the glass down on the
\nwhite enamel table,
\ntartness waking the tongue.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Willow Withes” will appear in Ascendance, <\/em>forthcoming this fall from Pleasure Boat Studio.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tim McNulty<\/a> is a poet, essayist, and nature writer. He is the author of three poetry collections, Ascendance<\/em><\/a> (Pleasure Boat Studio), I<\/a>n Blue Mountain Dusk<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(Broken Moon Press), and\u00a0Pawtracks,<\/em> (Copper Canyon Press), and\u00a0eleven books on natural history.\u00a0 Tim has received the Washington State Book Award and the National Outdoor Book Award.\u00a0 He lives with his family in the foothills of Washington\u2019s Olympic Mountains, where his is active in wilderness and conservation work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Willow Withes My grandfather used willow withes cut from a backyard shade tree to tie back his grapevines to their arbors\u2014 leafy rows that bordered the other crops sewn into his small, hillside farm. With a bundle of cut … Continue reading