The lost garden
She carried the garden inside her
so she could take it with her across borders.
The lemon tree settled and its roots
grew down one leg.
Lemons, she thought, are always useful.
A Norfolk pine kept her standing straight.
The bamboo she kept in a pot,
so it would not take over everything.
Her mother’s lavender clasped her heart
and urged it to keep beating.
Passion fruit vines grew out with her hair.
In the midst of her grief,
blue and red parrots flew out of her suitcase.
….
This is the title poem from the book The Lost Garden by Susan Sklan (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-lost-garden-by-susan-sklan/
Susan Sklan is a social worker and published poet, an Australian now living in the Boston area. Her poem “On passing an old lover’s address” was selected by the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sidewalk Poetry program of 2018, and installed in a city sidewalk. Her poetry chapbook The Letters, was published by Main Street Rag, 2023.
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