bought to cheer myself

to make the day --

my life less gray

and i keep trying to

remember what the colors mean

red for undying love

white for passion

yellow for platonic

and i guess the baby's breath

is to remind the receiver all of this is

wishful thinking and i'm always

surprised flowers can exist during

the winter and whenever i see the

colors huddled on a vendor's corner

for an instant i can't fathom colors so vivid surviving in such bleakness

then i remember greenhouses

hot air encased in glass where

spring and summer are perpetual

Denise Fair writes from Pittsburgh.