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Ruellia Brittoniana: Desire

Diane Richard-Allerdyce serves as Associate Dean & Chair of Humanities & Culture for the Ph.D. program in Interdisciplinary Studies at Union Institute & University. Her poem "Sitting with my Mother at the Lake at Sunset" appeared recently in Reflections: A Journal of Professional Helping.





Ruellia Brittoniana: Desire


When I allow my sandaled left foot to feel

the dirt as I replant the Mexican

petunias, hoping against hope and yet,

on the other side of my mind, just

curious to see if, unrooted, real

regrowth can happen in the lexicon

of the replanted, I wage a fresh bet:

that dirt between my toes is only dust.

What if the soil they land in won’t support

the rootedness they seek by fate or will?

Bending and digging, I keep weighing sides

of an old argument. I can't purport

to know the raw and longing heart, the still

desire of these petunias to abide.

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