28. Reese North's 'your green fingers' - inviting Dael Allison into the conversation

 

your green fingers were a part of you that stroked my hair /& brought our garden to life./ Your childhood was spent in poverty in Pommy Town, Stockton, /that other country before the bridge to the mainland joined two worlds/ But even as a child you grew your favourite flowers 💐/ until your children opened from out of you/ each from a special seed in your fertile years./ And then you planted the Magnolia Tree/ if only you could see it now mother/ its winter & spring blossoms burst open outside my window/ & the night you visited me in a dream you told me love is bottomless/ it has always been/ & is the greatest proof of the God you never doubted. / Whenever I smell the perfume of the Port Wine Magnolia/ and ponder its rich pink blossoms/ I know you are here watching over me/ in the garden of our creation.