Diane Richard-Allerdyce serves as Associate Dean & Chair of Humanities & Culture for the Ph.D. program in Interdisciplinary Studies at Union Institute & University. Her poem "Sitting with my Mother at the Lake at Sunset" appeared recently in Reflections: A Journal of Professional Helping.
Ruellia Brittoniana: Desire
When I allow my sandaled left foot to feel
the dirt as I replant the Mexican
petunias, hoping against hope and yet,
on the other side of my mind, just
curious to see if, unrooted, real
regrowth can happen in the lexicon
of the replanted, I wage a fresh bet:
that dirt between my toes is only dust.
What if the soil they land in won’t support
the rootedness they seek by fate or will?
Bending and digging, I keep weighing sides
of an old argument. I can't purport
to know the raw and longing heart, the still
desire of these petunias to abide.