tending olives

 tending olives 

(for those who work the land)

"oil permeates, subtly changing everything."--tom mueller

you who willingly lose yourself in landscape

alone and lingering

grounded in your own limbs

bending tender shoots as 

if in prayer

witness first hints of virgin green

time-lapsing hillsides

greater than ourselves

alive in wall-less offices

you can breathe in familiar soil

while gathering tools and coffee at dawn

squinting through elusive mist

tractor tread patterning each day

time told by angles of sun sacred

as earth-caked boots and call of 

red-tail hawk

wisely coaxing fruit from tree

you remain unknowable but

through such pungent, bitter art

giving yourself over

to the grinding crush

every bit as nuanced as the

bright ribbons of 

shimmering oil you

press

ls 4.21.22