Heavy Plant Crossing

The country road tilts and blends
into a sudden blind bend,
overhung with bush and tree,
so dense that, at first, I do not see
a red and white sign erupting
from a pile of soil: heavy plant crossing.
My imagination runs riot
with giant hogweed and triffids
evolved from seeds that drifted
down from distant planets,
and with forests of Tolkien’s magical Ents.
Sadly behind the roadside wire fence,
dinosaur diggers make a racket,
driven by men in bright yellow jackets.

Kim M. Russell, 2017

heavy plant crossing

Image found on Pinterest

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: And the sign says….

Also linked to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Tuesday Platform

Today it is Mish from mishunderstood.wordpress.com bringing us today’s Poetics. She tells us that on one of her recent drives home from work, winding along a beautiful river road, she was thinking about the various signs that greet her along the way. With limited words or simple symbols, they advise, guide or warn of the next curve in the road. They are short and sweet, much like titles to a story, or perhaps…..a poem?

Today Mish would like us to choose a sign as a visual prompt. Let it speak metaphorically or as an allegory; take us to a deeper place or even a comical place. Our signs do not need to have words, as symbols have stories and voices too. The choice is ours.

40 thoughts on “Heavy Plant Crossing”

  2. Imagination over reality ~ I wouldn’t mind seeing these:

    with giant hogweed and triffids
    evolved from seeds that drifted
    down from distant planets,
    and with forests of Tolkien’s magical Ents.

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  3. LOVE the sign!
    I vote for humongous ivy hovering overhead, grasping the telephone pole and crawling on the wires, listening to phone calls and sending messages through weeping willows that ooze onto roads — wait! Men in bright yellow jackets??? How dare they appear as busters of my imaginative sign reading here! 😊❤❤ Loving this one, Kim!

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  5. That sign here in the colonies would confuse people–like “the door is ajar”. But your poem gave me giggles before I began to day dream about hordes of men in yellow jackets digging up my back yard.

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  7. I agree, this is so visually intriguing.. what with “giant hogweed and triffids evolved from seeds that drifted down from distant planets” and oh “dinosaur diggers make a racket, driven by men in bright yellow jackets.” Beautifully penned.

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  10. This is so lyrical and yet whimsically wistful and dark, too – in an age of modernity – and better means of ease in transport – but I so enjoyed the way you’ve played with all of this – creating a bit of a fantastical Eden to keep us delighted – and hey yellow jackets – where are the “killer bees” to come and swarm such “progression” – although perhaps, that’s not exactly a great metaphor – I was reading in the news of late how parts of London were in fact swarmed? Anyhow, great writing here Kim 🙂

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    1. Plant is another word for machinery, Bev, things like tractors, dumper trucks, large earth moving machines. I suppose it’s a handy shorthand term but is funny.

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  13. Your imagination took usl on an enchanting path…..oh if only it was true and those yellow jackets were giant fuzzy bumblebees! I especially love the alliteration in the first two lines.

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