Garden View

Like the good Capricorn I am, I quickly deposited the money I received from the Atlantic Monthly prize. Someone asked me if had I bought anything with it and I said, "A chai tea and a cookie." So yesterday at the Farmer's Market, I fell in love with this little guy, handmade by another in a small town. I decided to use a small bit of the money I had tucked away--squirrel-like--for a little piece of beauty. I paid for it (he threw in a stone frog for my daughter). He loaded it in the passenger seat of my car and home we drove.

It's the first thing I see when I open my garden gate. The peaceful face. The flowers. And this small slice of perfect makes me happy.

While the back garden is in chaos--butterfly bushes argue with rose bushes, lilac tree nudges alder tree who moved in without permission--there is peace for all who enter here. Peace in the details. Peace is in the wallflowers, the blooming hosta, a stone statue holding my world together.