September 8, 2014 | Occasus | Issue 4 | Poetry
Market Blooms
I chose
blooms
from a market stall, traded a crisp bill for waxy chrysanthemums, black daises with lolling heads, and tall purple grasses. She wrapped the collection in brown butcher’s paper, which rustled as she tied a drooping bow of creamy satin around the stems. I carried them home like a swaddled babe, climbed onto the counter to take the good vase from the top shelf of the cupboards. I filled it with cool water, dipped a finger in as a mother would with her baby’s milk. The flowers safely put to bed, I closed my own eyes. In the morning the petals were curled and crisp in the dry heat, aphids had torn open the green bodies of my flowers, and the tall purple grasses had turned the colours of the butcher’s paper and the creamy satin bow. I took them from their vase and tossed them in the garbage, their lingering perfume mixed with the day-old garlic and rosemary of last night’s dinner. |
ROBYN OBERMEYER is a Western undergraduate student in her third year of an Honours
Specialization in English Language and Literature and Creative Writing. Since
childhood, she has been a voracious reader, and she has always been interested
in creating and studying the written word. Poetry is her passion, and while she
enjoys the restrictions of poetic forms, she prefers the freedom of expression
that free-verse poetry allows for. She aims to complete a short book of poetry
by the end of her fourth year, and is currently looking into both writing and
editing as career options. She is also interested in other forms of art, and
enjoys creating and experiencing both visual art and music.