I brought you flowers.

Posted on by Lucy 
I brought you flowers
the rain is the face 
of a macadam// a moon
before abandonment grows
in the weeds

my mourning garden
shunning my hands in the absence
of throat weeds; and my bones are my father’s,
restless;
sheltered a sad death
in the thorns, my child,
the cat does not know penance
like you. A body’s destitution in the sun,
the delirium in her 
as plant prostitution 
of the ladybugs bind/twist 
like a redolent heart

I called her my garden
just once
the kind of dying 
that nobody wants

that nobody stalks for, and I did not beg 
to make you Snow White
as my father bedded dry soil,
no I just wanted to disencumber your faces
before I abandon you.

You overslept rain
I cannot outlive or love you
as I am tired
of each humiliation 
as your ghost rusts like madrigals,

like father always said—to add another to keep them out
but they danced in 
the spit of water
to be my death 
to keep the roses.

© 2021 Pseudopsychosis All Rights Reserved.

Written for the 7/13/2021 dVerse prompt where we write a poem about gardening, or something germane to it. I based this piece on reality as I recently had a little garden bowl of cacti and succulents that my cats went into.

Yes, they’re fond of cacti and apparently masochism. I personally believe they used the thorns to pick their teeth with.

My garden of death (or what it will be if I don’t plant the remaining ones outside soon), how fitting.

I’m certain he is one of the culprits.

Also Happy 10th, dVerse. 🙂

Published by Lucy

"Poetess of darkness"–dVerse community; cat hoarder, guitarist, keyboardist, psych major.

99 thoughts on “I brought you flowers.”

  6. Nice gritty piece. Hehe. The cats picked their teeth with the needles. Ah I would not put it past them.

    I called her my garden
    just once
    the kind of dying
    that nobody wants

    This rings of love, and plays interestingly with the three father references. Perhaps a father that did not teach love, but dust. I dunno, just trying to scratch a bit deeper.

    Liked by 6 people

  10. Ther5e are some very fine lines in this poem that especially truck me – too many to quote. I love the mourning garden, and “your ghost rusts like madrigals.” Wow.

    Liked by 4 people

  11. “the rain is the face
    of a macadam”

    “throat weeds”

    “A body’s destitution in the sun,
    the delirium in her
    as plant prostitution
    of the ladybugs”

    “I did not beg
    to make you Snow White
    … I just wanted to disencumber your faces”

    “You overslept rain”

    These are killer lines. I’m imagining you visiting your mother’s grave, clearly having a great deal of unresolved issues between you.

    Liked by 5 people

  17. I love your poem Lucy! Your describe this garden so eloquently. I love your incorporating your cat into the poem.
    This is a great line… my child,
    the cat does not know penance
    like you.

    Liked by 5 people

  19. I love the line “a moon / before abandonment grows/ in the weeds” Stunning! And “a cat does not know penance like you” 😀 Our cat wouldn’t know penance ever in any way like anyone. It’s a lovely poem full of surprising twists in language an imagery. Stark in its mourning.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Aww, thank you so much. Honestly, that’s my favorite line too for some reason. I wanted to create abandonment imagery and it fit perfectly there. And hahaha, yeah cats are funny like that, they wouldn’t know penance if it came from the litter box. My first mistake was trusting mine lol.

      Liked by 2 people

  21. So so incredible! There were so many exceptional lines in this poem. And the way you ended it, ‘to be my death, to keep the roses’, just awesome. Loved it ❤

    Liked by 5 people

  26. Loved my wander through your garden of words, as do I always Lucy.
    “I cannot outlive or love you
    as I am tired
    of each humiliation”
    This section jumped out, perhaps out of context, but it resonated for me as the lament of a spurned lover, still pining. I think perhaps because I had that experience with my first wife. In fact, we took turns sharing that experience. They other couldn’t or wouldn’t leave the other’s reality, and yet the relationship, while addictive, was toxic.
    I can see your cat getting pricked on the nose by a cactus needle, and the head snapping back, paw swiping at the air — but after a pause, the cat going right back in. Cats are curious and persistent, often to a fault.
    BTW: your cat looks identical to a cat Kathy and I had for 14 years. Her name was Taja. Purely a house cat. She was pure black, golden eyes, and had a perfect little white diamond in the exact middle of her chest, just below her neck. She was cool! Cancer got her… 😕

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Rob, thank you so much for your lovely words and thoughts. I can see how those lines resonated with you, and it’s interesting because I didn’t initially see it that way but now I do. That’s really tragic and indeed toxic.

      Hehe, yeah, cats are anything if not resilient. Guess why the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat.

      Oh my, she sounds so gorgeous and I’m glad you were all able to give her a happy life. I’m so sorry cancer got her, that is a heartbreaking experience to go through with a pet. Mine is 11 years old and I am trying to cherish every moment with him I have.

      Liked by 1 person

  36. I had a black cat too. We named him Schatten. He destroyed my roses. He kept tipping the vase over with his paws. I have it on video somewhere. It always makes me smile. Black cats are so playful. Awww yours is gorgeous. I hope your flowers survive!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Aww, Schatten sounded like such a gem! That is hilarious. ❤ Black cats are indeed playful, so precious and curious. Thank you so much, and hopefully my plants survive. I planted them outside so hopefully they’ll recover nicely.

      Like

      1. I hope so ! Kittys can do a number on them ! Schatten was a gem. He was my best friend . He would crawl on my laptop while I was doing a paper for college and force me to take a break haha. It was so cute !!!

        Liked by 1 person

  39. Hi Lucy, I enjoyed “I brought you flowers.” I would also like to thank you for stopping by my page. It always means a lot to me when you visit because of my admiration for your work. Your style is different from my own and it expands my awareness of what language can do when I read your poems. That and cats.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Aww, thank you so much. I don’t know what to say! I’m happy you enjoy my work, I enjoy yours as well very much. ❤️❤️

      And the cats are only a bonus, hehe.

      Like

  40. Reminded me of Dusty Springfield and the Pet Shop Boys “What have I done to deserve this?”

    … I bought you drinks, I brought you flowers
    I read you books and talked for hours
    Every day, so many drinks
    Such pretty flowers, so tell me
    What have I, what have I, what have I done to deserve this?
    What have I, what have I, what have I done to deserve this?
    What have I, what have I, what have I

    Liked by 1 person

  42. I enjoyed this poem. It’s very nice to come upon one that has music and rhythm and for which the space to enter into it requires concentration and sensitivity. That yet don’t go unrewarded! “as your ghost rusts like madrigals” : a very nice phrase. In conveys really well the subjective feeling behind it. I’ve been there too.

    Liked by 1 person

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