<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Making Sense - or I pledge allegiance</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I pledge allegiance to a drop of dew</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Wobbling on a broccoli leaf,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">To the silver pattern on a zucchini frond</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">A perfect spiral at the center of a cabbage head.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I bow my head to the licorice smell of fennel filagree,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The taste of rounded peas </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The perfect dun of barley hay.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And the tasseled promise of knee-high corn.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I namaste a row of growing beans,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">To garlic scapes and turnip greens</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">To the sweetness of sweet potato vines</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">To the last red radish and first blueberry.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I lift up my face to the summer sky</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The sound of larks</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And the feel of dirt</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">To all that keeps making sense</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In senseless times.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Carrie Newcomer</span></div></body></html>