A-Z Challenge: The letter M

Mustard

Mustard grows wild here

  on vacant lots and stony hillsides.

It's roots reach deep in the dry dirt.

If you try to pull it

   out

  the small leather leaves strip

    in your hand

      and the bare stem remains

    anchored

    in the ground. 

At school recess I jumped 

  tall mustard

    cantering

    and leaping 

  my imaginary horse.

So is it a

frustrating weed

or

a child's dream?

A - Z Challenge: The Letter C

Cherries

When I was a child,

we drove to a cherry orchard.

High on a rickity wooden ladder,

surrounded by leaves 

and dark, plump, red fruit

I feasted.

At the hand pump

I washed

sticky sweet stains 

from my fingers and chin.

When we moved to this place,

I planted cherry trees.