Big Red Judys

Hello everyone;

I did say "haphazardly" participating in the April PAD Challenge. This is why day one is being posted after day two.
Day 1 prompt of "write an optimistic poem"

Not Dead Yet, Me

Is it really such a tragedy
that my sentences are raggedy
words tread together by similarity?
The conversation is still defiantly
expressions of me.

Is it really such a travesty
that I wander aimlessly?
When I can travel through time so easily
…our life history
…a life lived outrageously.

Is it really such a disparity
that I have forgotten the melody
of your name? Still there’s some clarity….
I know the feelings of family
and passions intensity.

Is it really such an indignity
that something once familiar is now a novelty.
Or that simple tasks escape me.
I still dance to life’s jamboree
and sing majestically.

Is it really such a finality
even as I become more absentee?
There is plenty of life in my legacy.
Don’t bother writing my eulogy,
when there’s still time to create a memory.

©2024 Delaina Miller

While watering my garden and coleus, trying to save my plant’s life in the drought, I found myself thinking about these three Big Red Judy coleus plants and my cousin Judy. You are missed Judy but you are thought of often.

In my garden they stand.
The three Big Red Judy coleus plants
I planted after my cousin Judy’s death.
The leaves arch like purple taco shells
waiting to be filled with nourishment.
Eager for whatever life brings to them.
Ready to receive
the sun’s relentless heat
or a passing cloud’s moisture.

Bold, beautiful, and red
they are, in a sea of green.
Even the stocks are deep red to purple.
There are only hints of green that give away
their secret coleus life.
Unique that is what they were meant to be.
Standout that is the lesson they teach.
Above all, they are strong even when the wind
bends them they simply flutter.

They are so much like my cousin and
my memory of her. Strong, beautiful,
unique. She always taught by standing out.
She would bend only to stand straight
and was ready to receive love back again.
Funny how we are like our surroundings.
Even the elements we do not see
we are ourselves.
We are all standing in the life’s garden ready to grow.

©Copyright Delaina Miller 2012