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    | Winter2008
 Poetry Fiction Columns Non-Fiction Contributors EditorialConversations Archives: 08/2007 03/2007 11/2006  07/2006 01/2006 09/2005   | 
		  | Grassroots and the Garden Variety |  
		  | Bob Hoeppner |  
        
      
      
      
      
      
      
      Every  drop is a vote from the blue for flowers.A ballot box on a  windowsill,
 stuffed with the substance of clouds, elects the  best
 seeds to higher office, the worst to shady
 pockets bribed  by fertilizer.
 Specially interested weeds seek their  advantage.
 Mud-loving bugs corrupt the leafy greens
 while  subtle worms will undermine the roots.
 All plants are the slow  words of fast rain--
 the erected officials between us and the  sun.
 We look to them for nourishment and charm.
 We are shocked  when they poison us or harm
 our fingertips extended for their  care.
 Hurt us enough, they find themselves not there.
 After  votes are swung they fall, their party hacked.
 But storms will  come again. They will grow back.
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