Waist-High Weeds

I found my neighbor, Teresa, weeding in the woods. "It's Japanese stiltgrass," she said, "and the only way to get rid of it is to pull it up."

Tell me about it. I've been pulling it up all summer, but have never felt sufficiently ahead in my own yard to take on the common land.

But Teresa has. And does. She and her husband, David, often take a bag along on their walks to pick up trash in the neighborhood.

I do not bag and neither do I weed. Instead, I ponder the stiltgrass as I walk, notice the height of it, waist-high in spots, think about this wild vegetation taking over the woods, the fields, the yards.

It's a green wave, a green sea, rolling ever forward. We can try to stem its tide, but we are powerless in its wake.