Quarantine–Steven Schutzman
After the cold came
and visitors did not
after my girlfriend lit out
for warmer places
and her real family
I found myself with a houseplant
she mistakenly left in my care
On an unusually warm winter day
to do the plant a favor
I took it out on the back deck
into the sunlight
and forgot it there
That night it snapped cold
and killed it
turning the leaves
a sickly canned-pea green
almost translucent
drooping like dead seaweed
in the ocean of air
But down near the dirt
where it must have been warmer
a single thin stalk
seemed to have survived
I stuck it hopelessly
into a shot glass
full of water
it was that small
It grew a few tiny hairs
and the stalk seemed to stiffen
in an effort to lift the single leaf
into the light
The leaf darkened so much
I changed the shot glass
for a drinking glass
where I could better see
the yellow tendrils
the straggly roots
patient in their temporary home
I was amazed
at my sudden green thumb
Weeks later
I planted it in some dirt
anchored by a twisty
to a chopstick
I took it with me sometimes
into my office
following the afternoon light
We listened to Mozart
took naps
and studied French
I began to think
during my many phone conversations
that the plant had preferences
among my friends
and that it understood us
after a while
because let’s face it
we repeat ourselves a lot
And then one day it was spring
though I still didn’t go anywhere
it was warmer and I noticed
for the first time
out the window
how trees put out buds
and leaves unfurl
at the protected center of bushes
One bright afternoon
I took the plant outside again
onto the deck
where I had almost killed it
and there we sat
like two invalids
looking out over the railing
breaths still shallow
foreheads glistening in the sun
***
Steven Schutzman is a fiction writer, poet and playwright whose work has appeared in such journals as Pushcart Prize, Alaska Quarterly Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, TriQuarterly, Night Picnic, In Posse Review, Sand and Gargoyle among many others. He is also a seven-time winner of a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant Award, awarded for creative writing excellence. Website steveschutzman.com