poem c:

These final hours 

Before we go, 

can I ask you about your past life?

I don’t know what the future will bring,

but the past can tell me a lot

about the gloss on green houseplants, 

and why they bring me a strange feeling 

of manufactured joy—a happiness 

that has been produced for me.

It’s a happiness that costs $25.

All it costs is five five-dollar bills.

~

Or maybe the green gloss is 

a natural part of the plant—

a waxiness that 

protects the leaves

from the elements; 

wind, rain, earth…

maybe even fire.