Jordan Smith
Harvest Home
The guys in the hunting shirts
And baseball caps
Beside their vans and trucks
With the tailgates open, selling
Tomatoes a little past prime,
Red peppers, pumpkins, syrup,
Have all got either too much
Or too little so say about
Us flatlanders who stand
An acorn squash in each hand,
Looking for the flaws in the skin,
The soft spots in the bushel,
As if weighing the options
For a metaphor for autumn, but
The sign says 2/$1.00, and that’s
Enough, which is also what harvest
Is: take what you want and whatever’s
Left, since abundance teaches
What waste can’t--of imperfect
Being, being what we are.