The potential      a strawberry has
absorbed the best of our knowledge

We have seen effort     the walnut
extracting fresh roots from a fruited hull
reduced to black soil from a crown

the old tree wet combusts in a rain wash:
is it the acidity, dissolving the iron table
the inner            bark decanted in the green
oven-house, isolated from natural light

but the strawberry. How does it conduct itself
when the day dissolves; reduced leaves
one plant plays the lowest synths, examines
impaired garden, concludes an immobile future:
the toxic harvest in its lone weight

 

Source: S. Ercisli, A. Eistken, C. Turkkal, E. Orhan, 2005, “The allelopathic effects of juglone and walnut leaf extracts on yield, growth, chemical, and PNE compositions of strawberry cv. Fern.” Plant, Soil, and Environment 51: 283-287.

Meghan Barrett is currently a graduate student at Drexel University, working towards a PhD in Biology. Meghan hails from Rochester, NY and is greatly inspired by the ecology of the upstate NY area. Her writing has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Firefly, Gandy Dancer, Mind Murals, and The Trumpeter.You can find her on Twitter as @Abiogenesister.