Michelle Hemer: “I Am a Garden”

(“Tomorrow’s Voices Today“ is a new series curated by poet and educator Mike Sonksen.)

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I Am a Garden

I feel like a rose that was stepped on after reminding you that she once smelled like me

I feel like a sweet pea that turned sour for my taste was not accommodating to your liking

I feel like a sunflower that dimmed in the dark because you said the light was never in me

I feel like a daisy whose petals have wilted for you said my true colors were unexciting

I feel like an orchid that dried up because your thirst of wrath sucked the life out of me

I feel like a tulip that drowned for you quenched me with an overflowing pain that could not let me keep breathing

I feel like a lilac whose stem was cut because you couldn’t slash the hate you fed me

I am the garden you grew
I am the garden you diminished

What are you looking for?