you planted seeds in the holes someone else gouged into my veins

                                                the blood is gone so I’m not sure

who will water the hollow tubes

but to my shock and wonder I woke one morning to tiny green sprouts

with white caps protruding through those same scars

the ones i tried so hard to hide and plug with chewed gum and crumpled paper and anything else i could find

                        blocking bloodless holes    barriers to all entry so my secrets don’t

tumble out and shatter on the pavement

but when i wasn’t looking you dumped handfuls of seeds into my veins in spite of my protests that nothing could grow in such arid sick firmament

you saw what i could not   and so did the seeds that became the flowers

that became a faint whisper in my ear that even

then  something can still take root.

Lauren Kells is a graduate of Lipscomb University with a B.A. in English. She presented her poetry collection, "same ball of light," at Sigma Tau Delta's 2023 International Conference and her work has been published in Periphery Art and Literary Magazine, Applause Journal, and The Passionfruit Review and is forthcoming in Litbop: Art and Literature in the Groove and Apricity Magazine.