Kind Women

by Karen Friedland

Kind women,

who live in cities

and who love beauty

inevitably grow plants so big,

they could be trees,

reaching for the ceiling

as if reaching for the sky.

Kind women think nothing

of giving books, food and cuttings

to wanting younger women

who stop by—

books that line shelves over the years,

and cuttings

that grow huge and leafy

and act as talismans

against the evil men do,

growing on my window seat,

spreading their gnarled green grace

on passersby.