by C.W. Bryan
One of the small, humanizing things
about me is that I take care of all flowers
given to me, by myself or others, until
their necks break, and sometimes
even long after.
I have never not done this. I have never
not gone to bed. I have never not woken up.
Even still, today, a small bouquet of purple
heads hang purple-still on little brown-green
pikes, as if warning whoever looks in my window
and dare enter my home, that I will
kill them with love.
I have never not done this.
C.W. Bryan is the author of two collections of poetry. His debut chapbook Celine: An Elegy was published with Bottlecap Press in 2023. His first full-length collection, No Bird Lives in my Heart is forthcoming with In Case of Emergency Press in 2025. He is currently writing with Sam Kilkenny at poetryispretentious.com.
