written By
When purple flowers grow on your front steps,
don’t look them up to see if they’re a weed or flower.
Who decides who’s a friend or an acquaintance?
Who knows whose ideas cross-pollinate?
The flowers I adore might give you allergies,
make you sneeze for hours because of the pollen,
the way lilies can kill a cat, give you a migraine.
Did someone bring garlic mustard seeds on purpose
or were they stuck on the soles of shoes?
Maybe one day it will serve us well
to know which weeds are edible:
purslane, oxalis, lamb’s quarters.
Sometimes I hear of family members
who didn’t realize that the painter was a genius.
Sometimes we’re not ready to receive the gifts.
We wish we had bought her art when she was alive.
