Nick with Sandpaper before Sowing

Grandpa Ott’s Morning Glories:
rich royal purple petals
vivid almost incandescent ruby star
pinkish-white throat
on eight-to-ten foot vines
immigrated from Bavaria in the 1870s

Special germination instructions:
soak seed in water 12-24 hours
or nick with sandpaper before sowing
neither alternative appealed
I wanted to plant seeds this moment
amid the peaking miniature tulips

but nick I did on the kitchen counter
tiny peppercorn-hard orbs
tucked between two abrasive sheets
rolled about vigorously
until I judged them nicked
then transported in my white cereal bowl

I rumped myself along the deck
making tiny nests six inches apart
three seeds under ½ inch of soil
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
and I, I took the one less-traveled by –
and who knows if it makes a lick of difference?