Wildflowers by Siobhán Barry-Bratcher

Wildflowers
by
Siobhán Barry-Bratcher

In the mornings when he passed my house

He helped himself to the wildflowers

I planted out front.

My neighbor would yell at him

And, one day, when I caught him in the act

He looked straight ahead and kept walking

While he gripped the stolen bouquet behind his back

In a tight fist, like any little kid would.

But he was an old man

And he only picked one kind of flower.

To quell my anger

I imagined he had a wife

Who couldn't leave the house

And those flowers

Were the only bright spot in her day

Until, one evening

I saw he was the one

Who always sprinkled a handful of rice on the curb

To feed the birds.

After that, I didn't mind
That he shared my flowers.

Siobhan Barry-Bratcher is a writer and musician whose work has appeared in various print and online publications. In addition to poetry, she writes short stories, plays, creative nonfiction, reality show recaps, and research articles. Two of Siobhan's short stories, "Pigtown Two-Step" and "World Without End," received Honorable Mention in contests sponsored by the literary journal Glimmer Train. She was also selected as a semi-finalist for her short story, "World Without End," in the 2018 ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition. Siobhan currently writes on medium.com and is also hard at work writing episodes for her podcast, “Grandma’s Been There,” which will launch in the fall of 2024.

Michael:
I like the wisdom displayed in this poem as simple things get elevated to the status of the "profound."
Posted 05/03/2017 10:58 AM

Larry Schug:
Flowers traded for birds, a good poem for free. A good deal all around.
Posted 05/03/2017 08:40 AM

KevinArnold:
Ah some artistic ambiguity, especially with the title.
Posted 05/03/2017 03:12 AM

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