This is posted for today’s Poetics at dVerse for Grace’s prompt – Border. I am also posting for the Tuesday Platform at Real Toads. The links to these pages are: http://dversepoets.com/2017/08/22/poetics-border/ and http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-tuesday-platform_22.html
Hedges
our small country community consists
of nine houses along the road ending in
a cul-de-sac.
the yards are all separated with thick tall
boxwood hedges –
each of the hedges has a small slip through
in case a neighbor wants to borrow a cup of sugar
or to take a neighbor some peaches
or for kids to go through playing hide and seek.
dogs and cats wander at will in the community
shimmying through the hedges
always going home for lunch and dinner and sleep.
snakes, birds, rabbits, deer, frogs, turtles, raccoons –
they all work their way through the tangled branches
or use the greenery for nesting.
So the hedges do nothing except define property
and back here in our small country community,
That doesn’t really matter.
Aug 22, 2017 @ 15:29:25
That wonderful feel of rural communities and friendship with neighbors. We are only half-rural, a block from a river, horses across the street but a great, supportive neighborhood.
Aug 22, 2017 @ 15:50:14
It really is different from the cities…I love it. You have horses across the street!
Aug 22, 2017 @ 15:41:40
A neighbourhood without borders sounds wonderful 💜
Aug 22, 2017 @ 15:50:41
It is like a very very small village.
Aug 22, 2017 @ 16:00:44
☺💖 xxx
Aug 22, 2017 @ 16:44:37
Charming!
Aug 22, 2017 @ 16:57:46
This is just how we country folk roll!
Aug 22, 2017 @ 16:44:41
I like your borders they create some sense of personal identity but don’t get in the way.
Aug 22, 2017 @ 16:57:28
Exactly.
Aug 22, 2017 @ 17:40:25
This sounds a wonderful place to live – borders without borders.
Anna :o]
Aug 22, 2017 @ 18:00:33
Yeppers. The best kind. And it lets you know what grass to mow and what grass to leave be!
Aug 22, 2017 @ 18:02:12
Oh, that is my kind of hedge.
Aug 22, 2017 @ 18:07:41
🙂
Aug 22, 2017 @ 18:20:38
Loving that line about the animals ‘shimmying through the hedges’ 🙂 My cats shimmy everywhere they go!
Aug 22, 2017 @ 18:25:02
I love it…the kitty shimmy.
Aug 22, 2017 @ 21:20:53
Super sweet, love the description of all those passages. K.
Aug 22, 2017 @ 21:23:34
Thank you!
Aug 24, 2017 @ 11:50:31
🙂
Aug 22, 2017 @ 21:27:23
The joy of rural communities.. can’t imagine having a place for the neighbour to slip through in the city!!
Aug 22, 2017 @ 21:43:52
Only in the rural areas, although when I lived in Philadelphia, there was roughly two blocks of houses that were like a small community. It was great.
Aug 22, 2017 @ 23:30:17
We’ve lived in places like that. This one sort of but none have hedges. A lot more fences here than the earlier one.
I liked your writing, it seemed all the characters were scurrying to you, making sure they would make the poem.
..
Aug 24, 2017 @ 11:49:48
The creatures do scurry to my yard – especially because of my huge garden, bird feeders, and other things. They feel safe there.
Aug 23, 2017 @ 01:30:23
How wonderful that such a place still exists!
Aug 23, 2017 @ 05:29:43
This is so charming!❤️
Aug 23, 2017 @ 06:01:35
We can all have borders (hedges) and still have open arms. Love your poem
Aug 23, 2017 @ 07:25:51
I like hedges, especially those that grow into their own shapes and defy landowners! Some have holly in them, and in spring hawthorn blossoms like a bride They’re friendlier than walls and fences, and creatures live in them. The lines:
‘each of the hedges has a small slip through
in case a neighbor wants to borrow a cup of sugar…’
remind me of The Smpsons, when Homer slips through the hedge into Ned’s garden!
Aug 24, 2017 @ 11:48:43
LOL, I never watched the Simpsons. But we are a friendly group. We also aren’t intrusive. If you want to talk about a trouble you can. Otherwise….
Aug 23, 2017 @ 20:09:34
It sounds lovely, peaceful and friendly.
Aug 23, 2017 @ 21:11:44
“each of the hedges has a small slip through
in case a neighbor wants to borrow a cup of sugar
or to take a neighbor some peaches”
I love what those three lines represent, and the addition at the end… the sharing of the real meaning of the hedges. I needed this today (I think most of us need this) after listening to the news.
Thank you… so very much.
Aug 24, 2017 @ 11:47:18
Thank you. Not all borders are unfriendly.
Aug 24, 2017 @ 00:47:22
What a beautiful imagery! Fell in love with the community described. 🙂
Aug 28, 2017 @ 13:56:45
Sounds completely charming!