Ellen June Wright

Longing for Blooms

After they had taken the budlike organ
|at her core, all she wanted was flowers,
and though it was late November in the Northeast—

the trees having shed most of their leaves,
and little was in bloom but hot house flowers,
they would have done the trick—

something in bloom to replace, if for a short time,
the part of her that would never bloom, never
pollinate, never transform with the seasons, never

bear fruit. As the house filled with gifts of food,
the center table lay as barren as she was
and would always be.

Ellen June Wright was born in England and currently lives in New Jersey. She has consulted on guides for three PBS poetry series. Her work was selected as The Missouri Review’s Poem of the Week in June 2021, and she is a founding member of Poets of Color poetry workshop.