spin your webs strong, your stories thick. send your words out from their corners
into the world and watch: they pull us along.
Winter 2025 Issue 1
ARI BLATT
To Tend
I have been told
the more peas I pick
the more will fruit
this year Dad and I
got a proper trellis—
not a series of stakes—
that won’t fall down
Marilyn provided the starts
when her kitchen window
became too full and
asked and I said
yes, peas!
I don’t always know
if I am tending
relationships right
I rotate the peas and tomatoes
each year and hope
the soil forgives the tilling,
no amendments
Dad will remember more yard work
Mom will say thank you for getting him outside
and I will send Marilyn a photo
“peas ready to climb!”
ARI BLATT lives on the Oregon Coast and works as a Fisheries Biologist. Her writing can be found in Cirque, SHARK REEF, and forthcoming in THimble. She has previously written for the independent newsweekly TheCorvallis Advocate. She is a 2022 TomJay Memorial Scholar and Blue River Writer. Ari received a MFA in Creative Writing from Oregon State University- Cascades.