Minneapolis Housing Market: Busted, again

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/news_cut/archive/2011/05/minneapolis_housing_market_bus.shtml

Storybook cottage,

Homestead house

Built in 1900

Surrounded by plains

Cornfields and pasture burst from earth

Soon eclipsed by miles of modest bungalows

Well tread parquet floors

Dining room walls kissed by crimson

Bedroom, pale green of sage

Basement laced with wooden beams, smelling of mildew and time

Who's once strong hands planted

Your bleeding hearts and peony?

Lilac in lavender and white

Cranberry, a riot of soft pink blossom

Lilies of the valley sprouting by the rusty spigot

Another planted tall orange Tiger Lily near the creaky steps

Ornamental willow, like an over sized bonsai

Surrounded by bright yellow Blanket Flower.

Cottage yarrow, Russian Sage line the garden bed

Hens and Chicks pepper your flagstone path

I too left my mark

In dirt sewn by generations of owners:

Pink Echinacea, Black Eyed Susan
Conjure prairies of old,

Joe Pye Weed, tall man with stooped shoulders,
Guards the porch.

Morning Glory climbs weathered metal,

Hostas punctuate the deep shade.

Sweat and soil

Sunshine and snow

I remember
Cold winter wind stealing through thin windows,
your quiet corners,
The slant of sunlight in borrowed rooms.