What's a weed?

Yesterday Loki and I walked the edge of a big vacant field waiting to be developed – a place we walked last May, with signs posted: Notice to Destroy Weeds. Yes, we need to mow annual grasses and forbs to make us fire-safe; I spend a lot of time with my weed-whacker. But the signs prompted this poem from my new book, Walking the Bones:

Notice to Destroy Weeds

Spring approaching wildfire season

This vacant field

of blue lupine, rose clover, purple vetch

(nitrogen-fixers all), wild oat,

milk thistle (beloved of goldfinch)

prickly lettuce (for butterflies and bees),

yellow aster, a single golden poppy,

cat’s ear, cattail, willow,

coffeeberry, blackberry –

a field frequented by blackbird, killdeer,

hermit thrush, cardinal, wild goose,

bittern, warbler and owl –

so many details, name just a few

so they’ll know what they’re calling “weeds.”

~ Taylor Graham