Flowering - Sept. 26, 2022

stand up straight! a needed mantra for my sway back like a tall parenthesis bordering a crowd of

crooked I’s the spinal

pain of straightening easing with each day old roots have sprouted new green has replaced brown though I’ve learned to

water and feed my own tend to myself the world is not a very good gardener my petals in a pre-burst peak brilliant yellow and blue opal not the beige I thought they’d be from the big

colorless bud

then one morning it happens I unfold all the way and look at myself while the sky pulls me into its arms smothers me in a

hug of sunshine