A Cactus for a Palm
by Erin Alexandria
Deep in the night, long after you closed your eyes, you are frantically searching in a botanical garden gift shop at closing time for the perfect palm plant only to end up with a basket of broken cacti too prickly to put back in their pots. Green is the heart chakra and the green whimsical palm you wanted is nowhere to be found so you grab the cacti because that’s what you know. And in the rush you toss them in your basket and now they have fallen apart. You tried to put them back together but you kept pricking your fingers. You gave up and left empty handed. Your heart…my love in waking hours is a cactus. Beautiful and intriguing to look at but untouchable. Protected. Guarded. In the meditation as the dream circle moderator drums, I am dancing a flamenco in a red velvet dress. Slit up my thigh. Hair slicked back. And I am dancing holding this potted cactus to my heart. And people are watching. Mostly men. I dance and tease. I am like fire flickering on stage. Looks from afar. Let me just dance for you with this cactus to my heart.
Erin Alexandria is a creative gender non-conforming multi spiritual mother (to a fierce and kind little human as well as various other earth beings – fur, scaled and leafy) of the African Diaspora in the American South, working in the intersection of art, wellness, nature, dream tending and gardening.
Photo by Scott Webb on Pexels.com
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