-

never start a power struggle with

poultry. the poultry always wins.

[greenstring tip #4]

-

lo que quieres está aquí.

what you want is inside.

[convenience store sign]

--

All of the sudden things just got easy. Sometimes I still get that feeling, like I'm something someone forgot to put up, but I don't really feel like that's a problem anymore. All I want to do when I wake up in the morning is eat bananas and listen to Tom Petty.

-

Bob talks to us in the afternoon, after we've finished working on the irrigation lines or planting. We make him tea and sit outside, sundazed, on the porch under the willows. He rolls a cigarette, places it next to his cup. He usually talks about cover crops or how to order seeds, but yesterday he came late, stared into space for a while, then said, The land is like a woman. I watch his hands on the table. His nails are like broken glass.

-

You have to prove yourself to her. Be there year, after year. Show her your love. She will always know if you haven't really given yourself to her.

-

He makes like he's about to light the cigarette, but then places it back on the table. You can talk to her about it, of course. Make her promises. But she will wait until you live it out.

-

You will love her for years before she gives you the mysterious parts of herself. And there is much you will never see at all. You wouldn't understand it if you did.

-

He leaves. A tractor drones in the distance. I'm not really sure what to put in my new notebook, so I draw a picture of a cartoon spider. She looks confused too, and I take comfort in this.

-

Bob is one strange dude, we say, and rinse out his tea glass. Someone shanghais his unsmoked cigarette, and the conversation turns to what we're eating tonight.

-

I believe him, though. I saw his hands. They bore the unmistakable signs of unrequited love.