What the Women Grew

Daylily, hydrangea,
hosta, deadnettle,
lilac
after the winter grow back
roots thick
inextricable
self-renewing under the firmament—
poverty-flower
loneliness-flower
sickness-flower
sadness-flower
silence-flower

and the ugly prickly hedges
for privacy

and the rank marigolds
and geraniums that come later,
cheap consolations.