GERANIUMS
Every evening two geraniums
welcomed me in from the barn
but I never so much as paused
on the steps to admire them
in too big a hurry I guess
to get inside the house
where it was dark and cool
It wasn't until after she died
I noticed the empty clay pots
standing there and remembered
how red those petals looked
against the white porch posts
like tissues I pocketed home
days a kid's fist caught my nose
in the schoolyard
"You ought to go down to the greenhouse
and buy some starts
They don't need much to live
just a little water once a day"
That's what the Schwann's man says
every time he comes up to the porch
with the frozen meals I order
I don't know how to tell him
I don't want to grow geraniums
What I want is to remember
the two she grew
Every evening two geraniums
welcomed me in from the barn
but I never so much as paused
on the steps to admire them
in too big a hurry I guess
to get inside the house
where it was dark and cool
It wasn't until after she died
I noticed the empty clay pots
standing there and remembered
how red those petals looked
against the white porch posts
like tissues I pocketed home
days a kid's fist caught my nose
in the schoolyard
"You ought to go down to the greenhouse
and buy some starts
They don't need much to live
just a little water once a day"
That's what the Schwann's man says
every time he comes up to the porch
with the frozen meals I order
I don't know how to tell him
I don't want to grow geraniums
What I want is to remember
the two she grew