Favorable Conditions

The name plaque said Rodriguez, Plot 7

and the raised beds were expensive—

dark cedar, drip lines running neat,

the mulch still dense and pensive

under everything except the zucchini,

one plant going soft in the center,

leaves curling brown at the tips,

giving up before winter,

giving up in August, actually,

in full sun, with water,

with every intervention

someone's whole spring had bought her.

The soaker hose was still running.

I stood there a while, watching it drink.

The plot had everything it needed.

That's the part I couldn't stop thinking—