Jenny Ward Angyal

Gifts

Eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon. Volunteers from the local food bank load up a hundred pounds of produce from our garden.  They’ll be back for more in a week or two. Meanwhile, we run a 24-hour, pick-your-own pantry for neighbors closer to home.  Melon rinds disappear from the compost bin. A squirrel nabs a half-ripe peach, making off with it through the woodlot canopy. Fledgling mockingbirds pick the blueberries faster than I can. A woodchuck high-tails it under the barn and four toddling raccoon kits scramble hand-over-hand up the old pear tree. At dusk, a young buck browses the apple orchard, untroubled by yellow-jackets feasting on windfalls.

last light
gilding the zinnias 
a hawk moth
two swallowtails and I
taste the moment’s nectar

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About the Author

Jenny Ward Angyal’s tanka have appeared widely in journals and are published in her collection, moonlight on water (2016). She is tanka editor of Under the Basho.