Milkweed

In a field by our house
Me and my brother would slash the plump stalks
Just to watch the milk gush
And punch the milkweed pods
To see the seeds helter skelter across the sky.

In a self-destructive rage
The years have passed since then.
We’ve scattered across the country
Our lives a testament to what can go wrong.
Whatever was lost in this life
Whatever is missing
Is back there
In an empty field of milkweed
gone to seed.

Published in Poetry Quarterly.