My Father's Roses

by Laura Foley

I'm annoyed,

passing my father's roses

every day,

as I walk to work—

flagrant colors, clamoring

years past his death,

outside his old office

on York.

How I hated

how attentive

he was to them,

lacing their stems

with pesticides,

reciting the names

of every damn one,

clipping their skinny necks,

manicured fingers

tenderly placing each

in its own vase,

never minding their thorns.

* * * * *

"My Father's Roses" was first published in VPR: Valparaiso Poetry Review and reprinted in WTF (WordTech Poetry) (CW Books). 

Laura Foley is the author of six poetry collections, including, most recently, WTF and Night Ringing. Her poem “Gratitude List” won the Common Good Books poetry contest and was read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac. Her poem “Nine Ways of Looking at Light” won the Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest, judged by Marge Piercy. A palliative care volunteer in hospitals, with an M.A. and a M. Phil. in English Lit. from Columbia University, she lives with her partner, and three big dogs among the hills of Vermont.