Day 26, Poet 26: Annie Stenzel

Photo by Laura Duldner

The Garden Came First
                             Eve was framed.  (bumper-sticker)

Perhaps she was already
weeding. You know how it is:
 
step into the yard
for a moment because
 
you hear birdsong
then glance
 
down at the ground and see
weeds
 
everywhere. You have to do
something, which means
 
you have to decide:
oxalis or chamomile?
 
vinca or Bermuda grass?
dandelion or morning glory?
 
So, which one was put here
on purpose?
 
 
​Previously published in Quiddity.


Annie Stenzel was born in Illinois, but has lived in several places on both sides of this continent, and in a number of other countries. She received both a B.A. in English Literature and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Mills College in Oakland. Her poems appear in a wide range of print and online journals, from Ambit to Rat's Ass Review, with stops at Blue Lyra Review, Catamaran Literary Reader, Eclectica, Kestrel, and Quiddity, among many others. By day, she works at a mid-size San Francisco law firm. Her full-length collection, The First Home Air After Absence, will be published later this year by Big Table Publishing Co.