There are times when a vegetable

Is almost too beautiful to eat.

Consider the chard I picked this evening

Just as the last slanting rays shone

As through stained glass, illuminating crimson

Cherry-red ribs and veins, the exuberant, brilliant green of spring growth.

The hens have been in the garden, scratching in the

Sweet-smelling earth, dining on the chard, and fresh shoots of grass.

Their eggs, fragile alabaster, sculpted to a fine

Matte finish, containing within, drops of liquid sun,

Firey orange-red, my omelet, a sunset in layers

Of burgundy running to pink and gold, and forest green on a deep blue plate.

Fran grew up in a small town near Wisconsin, and came to California during a Great Plains Blizzard in January, 1969, wooed by the sounds of the Beach Boys, the Mamas & Papas, and Jefferson Airplane. When she found out that Lake County was the place with ten guys for every girl, she hurried right on up in 1973. The selection she reads for our show is an excerpt from her forthcoming best seller, This House Protected by Poverty, the story of her adventures as a survivalist single mom, living with four kids in the hills of Lake County. Fran says, “The best survival tool isn't camo tactical gear or automatic weapons, but a sense of humor. During stressful times when I did temporarily lose my sense of humor, the kids were sure to keep theirs. Anyone who's thinking of having children should read my book first.” Fran is "Jr. Poet Laureate" of Lake County and was chosen as a UC/Davis Fellowship Bioregional Writer in Residence.