At 1426 F Street
Dorothea cooked two meals a day for her tenants.
They were her flowers.
She picked each one carefully—
no relatives
no friends
no one to notice their absence.
Just one
lonely
soul
looking for another.
She tends to each flower
meticulously.
One is Bert Montoya,
a Hispanic schizophrenic,
wrapped in the roots
of an apricot tree.
Then Dorothy Miller and Benjamin Fink
—alcoholics in life—
still thirsty in the dirt.
Betty wilts in her white nightgown
with James and Leona.
And Vera Faye Martin’s wristwatch
still ticks irrelevant time.
Seven flowers planted
and waiting
in Dorothea’s garden
and she hides
in a bright red
overcoat.
| Euphemism Campus Box 4240 Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4240 |