The Car Of Johnny Staying At Home Poem by Gert Strydom

The car of Johnny staying at home
takes the garden route
and the old green wheelbarrow creaks
while I fill it up
with weeds.

I pull a lever
and like magic sprinklers appear
in the garden
and the two cats
run moaning out of the water,
before the dogs
rollick barking in it.

I am angry with the Indian Miners, rats,
insects and snails
that eats holes out of my ripe tomatoes
and even wreck the spinach
before they are even ripe

and I wonder if I am farming
for myself and my darling
or the wild animals
and who really are going to eat the fruit?

There are sparrows and doves
in the branches of the pepper tree
that are peering and waiting
for me to throw out some seed

and it’s getting white hot
while the sun
rises higher in the sky
and I enjoy
dark red roses, purple irises
and orange, white and pink
geraniums that are all flowering.