i run my sprinklers

to avoid judgement

when asked i can answer

yes i run my sprinklers

i set my sprinklers to run at five a.m.

because i was once told

the sun burns our grass when it 

passes through a water drop

on a blade of grass

i don't want to burn my grass

i only want to water my food 

i walk past a house with 

the sprinklers running

it isn't five a.m. that is

when i am asleep

i watch as the sprinklers 

run for hours

so much water 

on blades of grass

in the spring when the

flowers are starting to grow

i make sure the sprinklers

run a little longer in those zones

my love is found in the colors

it isn't that i don't like a lawn

or grass

it is that i live in a desert

it is that grass watered has to be cut

so much effort

i once dug up a twenty foot 

by twenty foot patch of

grass - eight inches deep

with a shovel

so much effort

to not water

my innocence once slipped

on the ice created in

winter where all snow

had to have been cleared

a mid day sprinkler running

in january that same day

blades of grass

so much effort to water them

cut to the ground

in the rain

those sprinklers are

still on 

the lawn

water on top of water

at five a.m.

i can say i run my sprinklers

the wisdom to avoid judgement

no one knows if i turned off

the sprinklers for the 5 am rain

no one knows what days or months

those sprinklers are set to run

no one knows i don't judge them

for watering but wanting to be 

seen watering

no one knows i run my sprinklers

for a minute per zone

except where the flowers and food grow

those get one to two inches a week

they thrive in this desert enhanced

by technology intended to make

those i judge look good