Grocery Store Orchid

It took me a while to unearth

the reason why your suggestion

disturbed me

The plant you gave me for some special occasion

was it my birthday or maybe our anniversary

or perhaps a regular Monday when you loved me more for some reason that must have caught your eye by the bread aisle and which once bore waxen flowers of fuchsia

slim-stemmed and brazen-tongued

It had made our sterile apartment

with synthetic carpet and white walls

feel sleek and stylish

next to the mirror and the bowl of plums

Every morning I ate my oatmeal admiring its elegance in the sunlight

and I suppose it brought me joy

So your comment made me wonder: at your fickleness

at the shallowness of love

your interest in only what is beautiful and ripe

adding another anxiety to my growing list

Will you dispose of me abandon me, roots and all

in the back woods or empty me unceremoniously in the parking lot dumpster

Will you stop watering me

when I no longer bloom?