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Be Like the Sun
Jack Brown

How do you know
when a plant loves you?

When the cat is jealous.

Sunlight bathes their
chlorophyll hearts in green glory.
The yellow God casts a heavenly spell
a scintillating aura
refulgent over fur and feline marrow.

We all get our share.

But when your attention
is too much with the cacti,
hummingbird friendly ajuga,
a transcendent daffodil,
or a lavender sprung spider plant,
the cat intercedes to distract
redirect your heart.

A cat knows the plant is sentient.
Knows when your heart
wanders from theirs.

Be like the sun.
Impartial. Warm.

—
Jack Brown lives and works in New York City. Poetry published in Adelaide, Aberration Labyrinth, The Village Sun, Hellcoal Annual, and Poets Reading the News. He is a songwriter.

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Have you read these poems:
High Noon on the River by Lina Wong
Unreported Migration by Mary Mercier

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