Ivy, ivy everywhere

Green carpet of ivy

Sending vertical vines up oak trunks

And curly roots into the soil

Green carpet of ivy

Hiding trash from decades past

Rusty beverage cans with pull-off tabs

Glass liquor bottles full of dirt

A musty pile of deteriorating carpet

Green carpet of ivy

We curse at you as we rip you out

Who planted this stuff? one person asks

How did so much of this ivy get here? another wants to know

Green carpet of ivy

We peel you back to find native wood ferns, trillium, and California blackberry,

Alive but muffled

We leave, satisfied at another patch cleared of that

Green carpet of ivy

 Margot Cunningham