Australian
Poetry Journal

Issues / Volume 5 Issue 2 , November 2015

Poem

Bathroom Orchid

Vanessa Proctor

  The phalaenopsis 
  was an impulse buy,
  a small luxury. 
  A guilty pleasure
  placed by the sink 
  where only I can see, 
  it counterbalances
  reflections of disappointment.
  Artifice does not feature
  in its language,
  it has no critical eye.
  Veins of amaranth course
  through its petals
  which curl towards me,
  reaching out its stem
  of delicate hearts
  and slowly opening buds.
  With its glossy leaves 
  and velvet tongue
  it knows exactly
  how to be.