Stood Up

I put on my grandmother’s silk saree. She

wore it just once, on her sister’s wedding 

day, then passed it on to my mother, who 

passed it on to me when I turned thirteen. 

 

I clip on my emerald earrings and apply 

rouge to my cheeks and lips. The finishing

touch: I have stuck two petunias into my

carefully coifed bun. Enveloped in the green

 

of pasture fields—pink brush strokes forming 

petals that float on the ripples of the fabric 

of my garment—I wait for you on a bench 

in The Hanging Gardens. But you never arrive. 

 

I have become the flowers in my hair, now 

in my hand—droopy, ready to be dumped 

and left behind. Gathering around, thick 

clouds of green obliterate the sun. 

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Mari-Carmen Marín was born in Málaga, Spain, but moved to Houston, TX, in 2003, where she has found her second home. She is a professor of English at Lone Star College—Tomball, and enjoys dancing, drawing, reading, and writing poetry in her spare time. Writing poetry is her comfy chair in front of a fireplace on a stormy winter day. Her work has appeared in several literary journals, and her debut poetry book, Swimming, Not Drowning, was published by Legacy Book Press in 2021. Her author website is www.maricarmenmarinauthor.com
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