{"id":9641,"date":"2022-03-10T08:36:15","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T14:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/?p=9641"},"modified":"2022-03-10T08:38:01","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T14:38:01","slug":"ode-to-a-water-lily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/2022\/03\/10\/ode-to-a-water-lily\/","title":{"rendered":"Ode to a Water Lily"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Ode to a Water Lily<\/h1>\n

by Dave Loftin (with art by Mary Arneson)
\nWriters Artists Night 2021
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Water gardening is a patient thing.
\nYou wait for the slow approach of spring.
\nContainers and tanks filled with tubers and roots,
\nNeed tending by a fool in rubber boots.<\/p>\n

Space fills quickly with no need to try,
\nWhen plants do their thing and multiply.
\nTo solve this problem takes a magic wand,
\nOr in some cases, just a farm pond.<\/p>\n

Ozark farm ponds are far from purty,
\nWith water that is brown and green and dirty.
\nThey contain lots of mud and scum and slime.
\nThings that lotus and lilies find sublime.<\/p>\n

So the perfect solution to container overcrowding,
\nWas to take some lotus roots for a farm pond outing.
\nThrough the gate, back into a hollow,
\nWhere no one could or would think follow.<\/p>\n

I drove my old truck with tubers and rake,
\nTo the edge of the pond and realized my mistake.
\nRubber boots pull off when stuck in the mud,
\nAnd green slime and duckweed can curdle the blood.<\/p>\n

Ozark stubbornness came out and prevailed,
\nSo I stripped to my shorts and picked up the pail.
\nThe first few steps went like a breeze.
\nThen I sunk in the mud way over my knees.<\/p>\n

Using the rake as both prop and a pole,
\nI could move along though the going was slow.
\nThree feet of water seemed perfect to plant,
\nThough the green surface slime made me start to pant.<\/p>\n

I had to bend over to put the roots underneath,
\nBelow the green slime unable to breathe.
\nWith the planting done, I crawled to the shallows,
\nMuch like a hog enjoying a wallow.<\/p>\n

I sloshed to the truck and realized with terror,
\nThat getting dressed while covered in green was an error.
\nSo I put on my boots and my straw hat,
\nSpread a towel on the seat, got in and sat.<\/p>\n

Wiping some flakes of duckweed from my eyes
\nI started the motor and put it in \u201cdrive.\u201d
\nOnce through the gate, I jumped out to close,
\nThen locked the gate, looked up and froze.<\/p>\n

The neighbor lady was out walking her dog.
\nI stood rooted to the spot like a bump on a log.
\nShe turned my direction and happened to glance,
\nAt a slime-covered swamp monster, wearing straw hat, and underpants!<\/p>\n

Now you might think I came up with a save,
\nBut all I managed was a smile and a wave.
\nSo I climbed in the truck and headed for home,
\nThinking all the while I would be alone.<\/p>\n

After this terrible experience, what else could go wrong?
\nIt wasn\u2019t long till I sang a different song.
\nHeading for home with a shower in mind,
\nWhen blue lights and siren came up from behind.<\/p>\n

Our summertime drivers are sometimes drunks,
\nMost wear pants, or at least swimming trunks.
\nThe officer who stopped me kept a straight face,
\nAs I walked a straight line and stood one-footed in place.<\/p>\n

He let me go with this warning for closure:
\n\u201cNext time you get cited for indecent exposure.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Ode to a Water Lily by Dave Loftin (with art by Mary Arneson) Writers Artists Night 2021 Water gardening is a patient thing. You wait for the slow approach of spring. Containers and tanks filled with tubers and roots, Need tending by a fool in rubber boots. Space fills quickly with no need to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1593],"tags":[27,413,1595,1594,967],"class_list":["post-9641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writers-artists-night-2021","tag-dave-loftin","tag-mary-arneson","tag-ozarks-writing","tag-water-lily","tag-writers-artists-night","category-1593","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9641"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9645,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9641\/revisions\/9645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}