Robert Fillman: “He Plants Seeds”
HE PLANTS SEEDS
Down at the end of the lot,
kneeling in the loam, two hands
held out like a heart, this spring
he opens himself slowly
and pours a handful of seed
into the hole, listening
for a moment to each sing
of salvation, such language
vanishing into the trees
above him, like the dashes
and dots of Morse code he learned
in the service. Now he reads
the light that the sun scatters,
the grubs and worms he unearths
as he probes his trowel, hidden
water like a secret held
delicately in his mind.
After he covers the pile,
but before he can move down
the row, he winnows a bit
of dirt through darkened fingers
as his father had taught him,
taking a moment to breathe
the scent lodged beneath his nails.
Robert Fillman‘s chapbook, November Weather Spell, was published in 2019 by Main Street Rag. His poems have appeared in The Hollins Critic, Nashville Review, Ninth Letter, Poet Lore, Poetry East, Sugar House Review, Tar River Poetry, and others. Fillman is an Assistant Professor at Kutztown University.