Poetry

Visiting the Houseplant ER

A poem about the plant doctor (my mom)

My mom hurried Marisa’s new palm onto the kitchen table and cut away the brown fronds to let the plant send all its energy to the green that might unfurl and fill the living room

if we keep the air somewhere between 65 and 90 degrees and water when the dirt has dried just two inches below the surface while emptying extra water that would rot

the roots of the easy-grow Majesty Palm in its recycled-ocean-plastic pot.

My mom has been learning a lot about growing indoor and outdoor plants over the last few years. She and her partner, Ron, even put up a greenhouse. So when my girlfriend’s new potted palm started getting some brown leaves, she asked if my mom would have a look at it.

We took the Majesty Palm to my mom’s yesterday, and she immediately put it on her kitchen table and set to work. Marisa said it was like being at the plant emergency room, so today’s poem is about our trip to the plant ER.

This is the first poem to appear in The DIY Diaries, so I’ll add here that if you happen to write a poem that relates to the DIY theme of this publication, I invite you to send it along. I mean, who doesn’t write poems about stuff like home repair and houseplants and craft projects and….? Well, you just never know.

I’ve been writing new poems every day this April for National Poetry Writing Month, and here’s a list of the other poems I’ve shared so far.

Thanks again for reading my work, with special thanks to everyone who has followed and/or submitted stories to The DIY Diaries. Please let me know if you’d like to be added as a writer.