by Paula Ethans

what good is a flower
if it never gets the chance
to grow. blossom into a bloom.
never show us the poetry
of its petals.

they say
to always leave breathing room
in a painting, so the eye is drawn
to a focal point. let the admirer
breathe.

i would rather
a half empty garden
full of thriving flowers, than one
teeming
with wilted stems.

no true gardener
plants a seed
without doing everything
they can to help it grow.
because
what’s the point of a seed
if it won’t get enough water?

is there pleasure
in watching it
thirst
to death?

you don’t care
about your crop
if you neglect the soil. don’t
pick up the watering can. provide some shade. protect them from the dogs.

if you leave them out to dry.
dried up. like a dream deferred.

and a wilted stem is still alive. whatever alive
means to a living creature
struggling to breathe.

and all the flower wants to know
is why the gardener cared
so deeply so
when it was a seed
but can’t be bothered
to bother themselves
now that it’s grown

if you didn’t want to tend to a garden
why did you make us plant all these seeds?

pro-“life”

…

Paula Ethans is a writer, poet, spoken word artist, and human rights lawyer. She was born and raised in Canada, and is currently living in Berlin. “I originally penned this piece when the abortion bans in the USA happened in Spring 2019. But this piece is inspired by not just those events, but the constant war on reproductive rights and the need for politicians to control the bodies of pregnant people.”