The Gardener

Has the process already begun?

thin gray vines, working their way into my house

through the plumbing they push

thicker and insistent

through the ducts, they want my furnace to choke

they want to fill my walls and my basement

push my foundation off its base

thicker, gray turns brown, brown to black

twelve months, the vines are a riot within

all this time spent thinking I was the gardener

when it turns out I was the garden