Even the gourd plant—
whose weightless golden petals
shapeshift
into sturdy gourd—
is blooming now.

Her close-cropped vine
cradles both
star-shaped blossom
and oblong gourd.

The mature gourd
is hefty as a deck
of playing cards
in a gambler’s fist.
Three hundred seeds
scatter to the wind.

Precarious is
the vine
that holds
earth and air
in the balance,
dark and light
fused
in the tap root
from which
the green vine
creeps.