Pruning

From Sept 2013 after much pruning

Tonight, I trimmed my tomato plant growing too tall for my container garden

so tall that leaves and stems were curling and browning

so tall that it was stretching up to the overhang

rather like an ego fed by the little voice inside

with edges curling and browning

in the face of comparisons 

with others

with our youth 

with messages of should be

pruning the dry, curling branches back

is an act of kindness.

“Criticism, like rain should be gentle enough to nourish

 a man’s growth without destroying his roots.”

~ Frank A. Clark,  politician