Private Faith
Tending flowers at nine I learned
to duck into the garage as greasers
swaggered by flicking a switchblade
against the chain link fence, to tend
the balsam before traffic starts,
in danger hide with the lily of the valley
behind the black-green yews. Alone,
worship the royal purple gloxinia
in the window of Flowers By Gosh.
Honor your private faith in velvet petals.
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Michael Nelson’s publications include the Missouri Review, Maine Review, Tifferet, among other journals. He’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize a couple of times. He lives in the juniper savannah of Northern Mexico where he learns to garden with less and less rain.
“Flowers by Gosh…”
Moving, beautiful.