She opens the curtains and gives the bonsai tree,
a tiny Bougainvillea with papery pink flowers—
a quarter-inch turn

With the spray bottle of rainwater
she mists a fairy cloud over the plant
and settles by the sunlight
to read the travel magazine

flicking past the advertisements
and editorials
lingering on the pages devoted
to Japan

where golden pagodas rise from water
and an eggshell-thin teacup sits
on a polished table

She fingers the card from the travel agent
and props it next to the pot
sweeping away a stray petal
from the tabletop

She sighs
She’ll never go away—
too many responsibilities.

Sandy Deutscher Green writes from her home in Virginia USA, where her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and appeared in Bitter Oleander, Blue Nib, Neologism, and Qwerty, as well as in her chapbook, Pacing the Moon (Flutter Press, 2009). BatCat Press published her limited-edition chapbook, Lot for Sale. No Pigs, in June 2019.