Spider Plant Lament

Susan Richardson

i’ve mastered the art
            of the arc
but this starve has flattened it –
such sparse rations     of light

this hang
                    is not my belonging

i smell the fug of volatile rug
the smug of aspidistra
i see straights and leans   the restless screen
with its reds and greens i can’t eat

i miss my tips
                  my tapers
thin miracles of chlorophyll
crisped by fingers of fluoride

my stolons tuft with stunted reproductions 
of my strive        
under-nubs clutch
                             at air

the knots of my macramé roots
are tight as the pot’s white holdings

prune your lie that i like to be confined 
your thoughtless inflorescence

doctor my chlorotic
          unyellow the forget

Susan Richardson is a writer, performer and educator from Wales. Her fourth poetry collection, Words the Turtle Taught Me, emerged from her residency with the Marine Conservation Society and was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award. Read more.