Beneath our kitchen window,
There sits the table we saved
From the roadside in Colorado,
Which now shelters fourteen –
Yes I counted –
Fourteen house plants, each in one state
Or another of vibrancy,
Each one eager
To be tended to, each bearing witness
To the love that permeates our home.
V commends me for being
So attentive to them,
Those same plants that I call –
Rather unashamedly –
Our babies,
But too often,
I yearn to show myself
The same care that I so willingly
Give to others.
In these moments of yearning,
I imagine myself
With spindly appendages and
Thick, full roots,
Content with the knowledge
That the world nearest my body
Is purer
Simply because I have chosen to exist,
And I am vivified,
My heart filled with wonder
At the life we have built,
Once more giving myself permission to,
If nothing else,
Grow,
Which is my wish for others
Always,
Which is my one true wish
For those plants,
Our babies,
That sit upon the table
That we saved from the roadside in Colorado.
Ira Thorpe Huff, Seneca (Hawk Clan), is an educator and lacrosse coach. He received a BA in English from Syracuse University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. He resides on the Cattaraugus Seneca Territory in Western New York State with his wife, Valarie, and their two dogs.