Early
before the sun reaches the apex of the house
and casts beams of light and warmth
over the tomatoes and beans
I weed with my eyes closed.
Milkweed
Euphorbia peplus
garden terrorist
stems smooth, round, cool to touch
reached where stem meets soil
tugged loose of earth’s grasp
discarded intact to wither and die.
Once
just once
I watched as the stem broke
milky sap from veins leapt skywards
a catapulted creamy orb of fluid
resulting in ocular euphorbia exposure
acute eye pain
saline washes.
The doctor asked me what got into my eye
14 years old I replied
Euphorbia peplus
matter-of-factly
as though he should have known.
So I weed with my eyes closed
once squirted, twice shy.
Creeping wood sorrel
Oxalis corniculata
felty stems radiating from a point
best gripped below the surface
pulled with a sharp tug.
Its roots pale, an embryonic carrot
softened by three weeks in the fridge.
Nipplewort
Lapsana communis
thin, steely, brittle
easily pulled gripped low
broken, roots intact, grasped high.
Nightshade
Solanum nigrum
leaves a velvet caress.
The soft juicy stems bruised
dampen my fingers
fills the air with the scent of severed tomato laterals.
Knees pressed to the dirt
I open my eyes
shuffle right along the dwarf beans
reposition myself for another assault.
Veldt grass
Ehrharta erecta
bane of my existence.
Pinwheel of flattened stems
leaves with raspy edges
grasped at the centre by my right hand
rotated anticlockwise
till the earth gives it up.
Euphorbia peplus
smooth, round tubes
primed by phloem sap flow
lets loose its defences
conducts a random desperate search for cornea and iris.
All because of you
I weed with my eyes closed.