FlowersSome men never think of it.
You did. You'd come along
And say you'd nearly brought me flowers
But something had gone wrong.
The shop was closed. Or you had doubts --
The sort that minds like ours
Dream up incessantly. You thought
I might not want your flowers.
It made me smile and hug you then.
Now I can only smile.
But,look, the flowers you nearly bought
Have lasted all this while.
This poem by Wendy Cope arrived in the mail yesterday. The note also told me that Wendy Cope was discussed as a candidate for Britain's poet laureate in 2009 but made a public statement that she would not accept because she believed the position ought to be discontinued. Her rhymes are so integral they make me smile.
I have almost totally discontinued buying cut flowers because of the idea of killing something for brief, selfish pleasure. As a moral stance this makes only limited sense. A great many people depend upon the flower industry for their livelihood and, of course, flowers are plants and not creatures with minds and feelings. Still I prefer potted plants and have, in vases, at the moment only pieces of plants, i.e., some pussy willows and some eucalyptus stems [for the scent]
I've just noticed that the shrub outside my window beside the forsythia is a pussy willow and I suspect it was planted there by someone sticking cut stalks into the ground. I think I may do that with the pussy willows I now have. On a morning after a rainy night I'm sure they could be shoved into the ground near the one already there ...
5 comments:
June -- Pussy willows are one of my old time favorites. If dried one can enjoy them in a bunch for years. I usually buy them at farmers markets -- then I know where they were grown.
A comment on fresh flowers. Almost all the cut flowers that one gets from a florist or grocery store are highly contaminated with herbicides and pesticides. They are grown in large greenhouses in either South or Central America. Women work primarily in the greenhouses and have suffered from miscarriages and other health problems due to their exposure of the chemicals used.
To even smell the florist flowers mens that you are exposing yourself to the chemicals. I have done some research on this and it is quite a story.
Did enjoy your post and the poem.
Thanks for telling me that, Barbara. I wonder if there's a documentary film about it -- I think I'll do some research. At this time of year I'm thinking of all those tulips in Holland that get exported everywhere. I'll definitely continue mostly not buying them.
I really liked Flowers. Thank you for posting it. It reminded me of my husband.
Thanks, Christine, I suspect a lot of husbands are like that.
I don't even like cutting flowers from the garden, really. Although they look lovely at first, and may smell wonderful too, I am aware they are dying from the moment they are cut. I hate it when they start to 'go over' and you have to decide each day which ones to remove, or whether to toss the whole bunch/arrangement even though many are still looking quite good.
Give me a potted plant every time!
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