Anthurium
By: Kellie Brown
Water with six ice cubes once a week…Place in a bright, well-lit location…Avoid direct sunlight…Locate away from drafts. These are the instructions labeled “Simple Care” that accompany the plant gifted by a student. The plastic stake pressed into the dirt declares it the “longest blooming plant,” with bright green teardrop leaves and chili pepper red blooms whose shiny, leathery texture takes the shape of an artist palette. My not-so-green thumb struggles to parse any sense of how to tend to such extravagant beauty. There is nothing simple about this. Without careful attention, leaves brown then crumble to dust, blooms darken then wrinkle as prunes. Why do we need to declare the care as simple? Why do we lie about plants and ourselves? I start a list of my care instructions— Water with the beauty of art and words…Place in the light of friendship and laughter…Avoid the heat of toxic spaces and dogmas…Keep away from the drafts of bias and injustice…Bloom freely, uniquely, extravagantly for as long as you can.
Dr. Kellie Brown is a violinist, conductor, music educator, and award-winning writer of the book The Sound of Hope: Music as Solace, Resistance and Salvation during the Holocaust and World War II. Her words have appeared in Galway Review, Earth & Altar, Ekstasis, Psaltery & Lyre, Still, The Primer, Writerly, and others. More information about her and her writing can be found at www.kelliedbrown.com.
