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Writer's pictureLeann Shamash

Today I Bought a Green Plant


Today I bought a green plant.

Its leaves are round and shiny

Buffed like emerald shined shoes

It's in a white clay pot

With ridges

It looked beautiful on the shelves of Trader Joe's

So I bought it


For the beauty

For the wonder

Just because I wanted something alive and round

Like life

Like normal times


Today I went to Trader Joe's

It was early morning

Fiery red carriages sprayed with disinfectants

Masked workers polite and friendly

Red shopping baskets marking the six feet line of safety

Shoppers stand quietly, orderly, politely respecting boundaries

One way aisles, people gingerly passing each other

Their masks hiding their faces

Shopper's carts (fiery red) piled high, higher, highest

With all the food that might be needed

For a week or two or three

With flowers topping the mountains of groceries

Because flowers take the usual

And make them beautiful

Just like normal times


Today I went to Trader Joe's

I smiled at the clerks

They couldn't see that I had smiled because of my mask

But my eyebrows arched a little

Maybe they could see my smile in my lifted brows?

Our voices muffled from behind our masks

Wishing each other a good day

Wishing each other good health and safety

Maybe not like normal times


Today I went to Trader Joe's

Once I wouldn't have given it a second thought

Another stop during the day

But today this was an outing to prepare for, to anticipate

To savor, to enjoy.

Yes, I washed my hands twenty times after arriving home

Sanitized my phone, my glasses, my credit card

But I have my green plant to recall this visit

It will be on my desk after the quarantine ends

A shiny, emerald leaf reminder of a time

I might want to forget

But its new round leaves will continue appearing

Reminding us that life goes on.





Shabbat Shalom- may you always look and find the life and beauty in

flowers and greenery









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