A hummingbird's heart is the size of a pencil eraser.
     —Brian Doyle

A furrow curling above her eyes,
a girl erases a mark in a garden,

places cat, crow and kerchiefed, hands
on hips gardener around a hybrid

lilac/mulberry/rose of sharon—green
to violet hues unfolding at a rate

quick and wild as a hummingbird heart.
Each sprig branches, curves off

like a path into a blooming world
that emerges, roils into tree-bourne

vines, heaps bud on bud, life
on storming, profligate, delicate life.