​Andrew’s Flowers, by Kathryn Schmeiser

Image from The Flowers by Dr Lisa Cooper, photography by Harold David. Murdoch Books. (Australia) contemporary

​Andrew’s Flowers
 
The scent of flowers … hyacinths,
lilacs, lavender … overwhelms.
But my eyes focus on petals,
stamens, slender stalks, turned 
under leaves.  The dirt caked
around his fingernails.  Especially
the toasted brown soil clinging
to nail beds.  As flower
roots cling in garden 
beds.  
 
Andrew.  He murmurs 
his name.  Two syllables.                                
Aster.  Iris.  Laurel.  His hands 
grasp, cradle blue poppies, 
splashes of yellow peeking 
like eyes under droopy
lids.
   
The flower market before
dawn.  I flit between stalls,
listen to water buzzing in
metal buckets, doves
cooing from rafters, 
clippers snipping dried 
leaves, spent blooms. 
 
Yet I return to watch Andrew.
Mud crusts his sleeves, blue 
somewhere underneath.  
Poppy blue

​Kathryn Schmeiser
​
Kathryn Schmeiser is the author of two poetry and photography collections.  She has had poems published in Cadence 2024 (Florida State Poets Association Anthology), CSPS (California State Poetry Society) Poetry Letter, Message in a Bottle (Highland Park Poetry Publication), Of Poets & Poetry (Publication of the Florida State Poets Association), Poets for Peace Sunflowers Rising: Poems for Peace Anthology and The Reach of Song.  Her poems have received national and state awards.  She is a member of Poets for Peace (NFSPS) and was a submissions review reader for Sunflowers Rising: Peace Poems Anthology, 2025.