about the author
Gabriel Welsch writes fiction and poetry, and is the author of four collection of poems, the most recent of which is The Four Horsepersons of a Disappointing Apocalypse (Steel Toe Books, 2013). His work appears recently in Moon City Review, Adroit Journal, Gulf Coast, Crab Orchard Review, Chautauqua, Pembroke Review, Tahoma Literary Review, and Mid-American Review. He lives in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, with his family, works as vice president of strategic communications and marketing at Juniata College, and is an occasional teacher at the Chautauqua Writer’s Center.
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One Poem
Gabriel Welsch
Common Garden Weeds
Forever we’ve known them, but learning
their names—pigweed, shepherd’s purse,
burdock, quack grass—sings lore.
The inelegant punch of gnarled
insistence, rhizomatic grit.
Each pull sharpens a body’s memory
of when to bend toward earth.
Each root a reminder of how shallow
the garden’s dominion, the cost
of defying sun and water.
The baked mornings of late summer,
when ground hardens against the absence
of dew and weeds crackle and stretch,
bend and feel the sun on your back.
You, a prayer for water, an ancient call.