Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Weed or Centrepiece?


Saintpaulia, the favourite of ladies’ indoor gardens
contained, sheltered and unsullied
cooking on the windowsill behind hermetically sealed double-glazing
always dressed in the colours of widowhood – white, purple, delicate pink

fussed-over, nurtured and adored
(never wet the furry leaves,
no over-watering,
fed weekly on Sundays,
taken for an airing in Spring)

pots and lives wrapped in co-ordinating tissue paper
with matching ribbons
ordered, staid and scentless

Oh for a rogue to thrust his green shoot amongst this decorum!



 



21 comments:

Berowne said...

Clever, well written...

Dave King said...

Fantastic, The last four lines are brilliant.

Tess Kincaid said...

Marvelous piece. A thrill to read.

Brigid O'Connor said...

Loved this take on the prompt
-pots and lives wrapped in co-ordinating tissue paper- clever.

Jinksy said...

And an Irish rogue, at that! LOL

gautami tripathy said...

Wonderful magpie! I like your reflective thoughts!

coloured perspective

Louise said...

Oh yes, we all need the rogues!

Helen said...

Green shoot ... I have been looking for one all my life!

Kathe W. said...

a rogue indeed!

Lucy Westenra said...

I'm no gardener, but that's a rogue shamrock, I think.

Anonymous said...

An uninvited guest at the party...a clever, well written take. Vb

hyperCRYPTICal said...

I like the rogue shamrock! Clever magpie!

Anna :o]

DebbyMc said...

Fantastic! I love the last 4 lines, especially.

Martin said...

I like the notion of a 'rogue' livening things up among the Violets.

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Carrie Van Horn said...

A brilliant piece Isabel! :-)

Jingle said...

smart one, well done.

Hyde Park Poetry Palace said...

wow, impressive lines.

excellent magpie.

girl daydreaming said...

i like the "diva" life of the violet... fussed-over, nurtured and adored... augh good things must come to an end. great poem!

Isabel Doyle said...

Thank you for all the kind comments. The photo prompt from Magpie Tales reminded me of when my mum took me to visit ladies who were 'shut-in' for the winter. They all seemed to nurture African violets and geraniums on their windowsills.
xx

Mary said...

A pleasure to read. My aunt always used to grow African violets.

Anonymous said...

You've done well at capturing the obsessive nature that plagues anyone shut in for prolonged periods of time, especially in line ten. Well done and quite clever!