Jim Conrad used to say that a weed is any plant growing where you don't want it growing.
Moving here, unfamiliar with the plants and the gardening culture, I've been hesitant, learning as I go, figuring out what people grow as specimens, what they pull as weeds, what level of gardening maintenance is considered appropriate.
I'm seeing now the milkweeds in full bloom down the street, massed together, fragrant, delicate purple flowers, reclaiming beauty in front of the abandoned building.
People go behind the building to smoke crack, polite with their nods and hellos.
It's interesting here, that the crack addicts and street people are more visible, more respected, more respectful - perhaps because we all have to get along, somehow, all of us people.
And maybe, like the milkweeds, given enough time, and a bed for growth, the world will provide them with a blossoming of their own.
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