Where's My Bloomin' Bloomers?

If you read yesterday's post you'll see my problems with the Soma order I placed. You'll be just so relieved to know that my bras (Jennifer called them birdles when she was little so we'll go with that) arrived today. I took them out of the package and they scared me! There is a hard plastic liner (meant to be removed) in each them and for a second I thought I had ordered the Iron Man Birdles by mistake. Weapons to dissuade mashers perhaps. Whew! I also took a look at the bloomers that came yesterday. I thought I had received 2, as ordered. I opened the bag they were in -I should say IT was in -as only one was in the bag. Soooooo I had to call Soma for the 4th time and explain. I felt like an idiot. For all I know they have me on their watch list now. Thinking perhaps I am stockpiling bloomers and birdles by calling and saying they did not arrive. Soma needs to find out what's going on in the warehouse! A little quality control perhaps!

Today I helped out at my church for most of the day and then spent some quality time with the Mister, so I'm a bit late checking in here. I have not encountered any people or problems in the past 24 hours that require a critique, so I'll share a poem with you. I wrote this one several years ago on a day I was feeling a bit neglected and unappreciated - one of those Saturdays when after a hard week at work I was faced the usual zillion tasks that sit there and wait for all of us working moms at home. I felt wasn't getting the help and support I needed. Probably true. This poem blossomed while I was watering the plants and flowers around the huge oak tree in the front yard:


She Plants Flowers in Her Garden

Flowers like her
That do not require much attention
Plants that grow anyway
And bloom despite neglect
And a lack of appreciation

Those needing no stakes for support
The kind with shoots
That find their way among gnarled tree roots
And grow deep beyond parched sand
And raise up to find their own light among the shadows of the yard

Icy pinks of pentas and Mexican petunias to balance
Violet moods of impatiens spreading among rainbow lantanas
And proud spikes of Amazon lilies
That bloom for just the day
But bloom nonetheless with stripes of royal and gold
Radiating from unseen mines of color

And white azaleas that bob like popcorn in the rain
And bloom sometimes beyond their season
Amid the shade of leathery ligustrum
And crepe myrtle that flourishes in a glory of crinkled pastel
Then sheds its leaves to rebuild itself from within
Despite tropical seasons that beckon it to remain
And deplete itself during balmy winters

And elephant ears
Richly veined to catch the evening rain
Of quicksilver drops that gather together and run from edge to edge
Testing the pull of gravity

Catching unseen light from a sober sky
They glisten for a moment in flat silver pools
Cabochon jewels
Water diamonds
Loose gems
That drop from velvet leaves bowed by their own carat weight
And disappear to replenish the dark earth

Cynthia Ann Conciatu 1997
Published FSPA Anthology 1997