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by Cat Dixon

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Take responsibility for your house plants. They ask 
only for water and sunlight and perhaps some upbeat 
music like 80s pop songs instead of that guitar-heavy 
Judas Priest album you blast while dancing in your 
underwear. The cacti are fine, but the lucky bamboo 
maturing in the corner of your bedroom shows signs of 
boredom. Its yellow leaves tell of no fertilizer and 
overwatering. You should know it’s not bamboo. You’re
growing bad luck for 29 years if you refuse to prune, 
refuse to read the directions, refuse to ask for help.  
Under the dirt, you’ll discover dozens of tiny legs of  
mealybugs sucking the plant’s juices. Under the unmade
bed, you’ll find the card I gave you when I brought
over the lucky bamboo. It was a housewarming gift. 

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Cat Dixon (she/her) is the author of Eva and Too Heavy to Carry (Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2016, 2014) and the chapbook, Table for Two (Poet’s Haven, 2019). Recent work published in Harpy Hybrid Review and Stanchion. She is a poetry editor at The Good Life Review.

 

 

 

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