If you have a hen and rooster
eat eggs not soup,
second rooster, have eggs in your stew
and one day when I wanted
only meat
I killed that lonely hen.

Never send salted water into your garden
lest it kill the crop this year
and next
and still I poured old broth
upon new growth
which wilted and has died.

In troubled times, store the last
potato, onion, rutabaga
for seed in civil springs
don’t do as I and eat
until dirt is the only dinner
while arid winter lingers.

When the land is dry
never kick a burning log
as I did
the sparks flying there, and there
and here
fires licking to life where any ember landed.

When all around are flames
just hold your breath
and your hope.