Photo Albums

 The aroma of potatoes roasting
greets us at nine AM.
it circles our classrooms
around heads bent over journals
yesterdays harvest recorded
older children guiding younger
to stalks bending with fruit
to surprises waiting a few inches down.

The long table hosts
a celebration of potatoes
pumpkins, corn, and squash
carried in by the small hands
that patted seeds down
months ago.

Underground,
seeds have been sprouting
reaching for the light.

 Todays snack
a feast of roasted potatoes
chins butter-shiny,
lips licked clean.

Students
in our basement classrooms
are reaching for meaning,
know them selves to be stewards.

There is light.

 Jane Manring 10/07