Prompt #119
Part 1: Write about a gift someone gave you that you didn’t like, didn’t know what to do with or had no use for.
Part 2: What does this gift say about the person who gave it to you?
Whenever there is a prompt like this, you can also write about the opposite.
Part 1A: Write about a gift you loved, a gift that was a surprise in a good way, a gift that worked really well.
Part 1B: What does this gift say about the person who gave it to you?
The Gift
Early on I told him how I felt about orchids
that I kill them no matter what I do
and asked him not to give me one.
On my birthday I awoke
to a Mylar balloon
tied to a clay pot above
a single white orchid.
Maybe I dislike them
because they seem too perfect
the impossibility of their waxy virginity.
Though I loved the man
his warm smile
generous heart
I did not love his ears
blocked by lifetimes of trauma
ears that could not hear my heart.
He always gave me little gifts
for no apparent reason—the best kind of giving
but could not hold a gift from me.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like the gift
or appreciate the giving—
we never got that far.
He’d act as if it hadn’t happened
would set it on a table
and avert his eyes.
You’re supposed to say “thank you”
I told him once
no embarrassment registered on his face.
I love this “story told in poetic form.” I’m drawn in by the opening stanza . . . this could be my story. My husband has given me countless orchids and finally heard me. . . “No more, I just kill them.” I don’t mean to, of course. The image of the “Mylar balloon tied to a clay pot above a single white orchid” is haunting in the simple wording and oh, so eloquent in meaning. The third stanza opens my mind to a new perspective about orchids . . . lovely to behold but unforgiving in the wrong hands. The fifth stanza is amazing, “I did not love his ears/ blocked by lifetimes of trauma/ ears that could not hear my heart.” I had to re-read that, to savor the delivery and meaning. Gorgeous writing!
Thanks for your detailed feedback, Marlene. It was a story that had to be told, at least for me.
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