Cauliflower Grows More Contagious

Stag beetles and buttons, Sequoia
Announced as the topics over lunch
On that penultimate afternoon

Of another astronomical
Summer, one that had happened to start
Under the threat of imminent death

And that was ending on this drive home
From home, that is from emotional
Home to legal place of residence,

From Slocanada to Springdale,
Still under threat of imminent death,
But an imminence that was feeling

Less imminent with every good breath.
Stag beetles, buttons, cauliflower,
Sequoia had amended her list.

We were dragging out that lunch, that last
Meal on the north side of the border,
Under a glass roof mesmerizing

In storms and blinding on sunny days.
We joked about food and what lives do
To make meals of more lives making meals—

In the end, we took a box to go,
Crossed back over the border in sun,
Turned to face an imminent season.