Ode to Asparagus poetry contest winners, 2018
Glen Lake Community Library
May 19
First Place
Asparagus
By Matt Girard
As a child
I believed
That swallowed seeds
Would grow in me
Until I’d be
A stalk, a patch, an apple tree
Older now
And old beliefs
Are buried within dreams.
Above midnight streams
I sleep and seem
Of beech, of birch, of summer green
Now I long
For Leelanau
Between the inland seas
I’ll eat spring shoots
So my feet take root
Feathered limbs following the breeze
Second place
Of Asparagus I Sing
V. L. Stewart
Cold dawn Springs, of Asparagus I sing.
O Asparagus, we snapped your crispy heads at the break of day,
our baskets heavy with your fragrant, green display.
My Uncle Thor picked and ate you in the field,
“Spring Breakfast,” he called you while cutting down our yield.
Once picked, Aunt Crystal covered your green and purple crowns
with dampened cloth to keep you fresh until sold in town.
O Cold dawn Springs, of Asparagus I sing.
We snapped seven acres of your stalks every morn,
from late April to Father’s Day, it was shorn.
On muggy, sunny days, picking took all our might,
we swore we heard you growing, even in the night.
East sun warmed our backs while your endless rows we tracked.
We joked and griped through every bend and stoop, bend and stoop,
Dutifully picking loop after loop.
When, at last your green-purple crowns went to crazy seed,
the fairy forest fronds were extraordinary to believe.
O Cold dawn Springs, of Asparagus I sing.
Although I love your tasty, green empire like none other,
Was truly glad when the picking season was over.
O Cold dawn springs, of Asparagus I sing.
Third place
The Dog Who Loved Asparagus
Solomon Boothby (age 9)
One night at supper
An asparagus fell on the floor
When I looked for it
It wasn’t there any more.
I looked again
It wasn’t there still
My dog licked his chops
He didn’t look too chill
Did he eat it?
Does he eat greens?
What is that look
On his face really mean?
This time on purpose
I dropped another, again.
Just like the first one
It was gone in a blink.
Now I knew it was him
Eating it off the floor
For now he was even
Begging for more.
In fact when I turned
My head to tell Mom
When I looked back
ALL my asparagus was gone!
Empire Asparagus Festival
Was the very next day
We saw the big tent
And headed that way.
What happened next
You wouldn’t believe
Our dog ran through the gate
Getting off his leash.
With his nose in the air
He ran to a booth
Where asparagus was served
(I tell you the truth)
The dog growled at the man
And made him jump!
The plate flew through the air
And made it all dump.
My dog munched away
So quickly and proud
The workers were shocked
And so was the crowd.
I ran to my dog
Hollering “No!”
I pulled him out
They were glad to see him go.
His love for asparagus
Will be remembered best of all,
For the next many years
At the Asparagus Festival!
