Saba Saleem

COMP-Pomona student

Where do roses grow?
Water, soil, and sunlight.
3 ingredients for success!
She was admired and put in a glass,
Given the sun’s shine.
When it wasn’t enough, there was soil beneath two mountains.
It was meant to be, like two lips almost meeting in a smile.
The water given to it had sprung from a rock.
But glass silenced the air needed for the flower to breathe.
The silence grew louder to create new memories,
its magic fading away, her vibrancy falling flat.
The rain tried to help
but only thorns stood tall.
Each petal, drowning in tears, washed away to the ocean: her deepest fear.
Its beauty now a distant memory.

 

The corpse flower does not need sunshine.
Its bloom not dictated by a particular season; its arrival seemingly serendipitous.
Its central spike, made of different actors
Each playing a role to sustain it.
Put inside the glass that once held the beloved rose, the glass shattered.
The flower’s monstrous smell, all-consuming, killing instead of being killed.
Looking at chaos, you wondered
So this is love?