Today the TV . . .

ALISON BRAID

Today the TV is switched to PBS, reruns of nature adventures. Mary cheats in crib and pegs early over the skunk line. Wheeling the garden path, Fletcher blows smoke rings at glossy starlings. Mabel is forgotten at crafts and cuts with scissors every curl that strays. On the table, asters edge toward decay in a blue plastic vase. Down the hall, Flora has mistaken Walter for her late husband again. PBS says bioluminescent lantern fish can be spotted from 100 feet away. Ida shoos away flies where they land on the drooping brim of her straw sun hat. Helen sits alone by the window, watching two crabapple trees cede to codling moth. PBS says at the time of a host insect’s death, the nematodes within glow ultramarine in the dark. Scientists remain uncertain: is this a lure? Or like carving into furrowed bark, we were here.