A Pacific Northwest native, I have been writing poetry over 40 years. My poems reflect a woman’s journey through the later years, with recurring themes of loss and renewal.
WHAT THE TULIPS SAID
It was in late March
I’d spent the morning
cleaning the house,
sorting a lifetime
into boxes for a yard sale.
I remember
how cold it was that day,
a winter of endings
deep inside me,
and later found myself
in a garden store
looking at a bin of tulip bulbs
marked 80% off.
Shriveled up and past their season,
they lay in a jumbled heap
waiting for the compost.
But four of them
had gone ahead
and bloomed anyway,
their green stems hanging
over the edges of the bin,
their scarlet petals splayed
across the brown cardboard,
defiant and alive.
I looked at them a long time.
They stared back at me,
“Why not you?” they asked.
“Why not you?”
Photo Credit: Lorelie.Olson
To view the previous C Ross poem – click here
Beautiful and packed with so much.
Thank you 💕