<\/p>\n
The Houseplant Advisor<\/strong><\/p>\n Following my own old advice I have put the first part Now that’s out of the way, I’ll get on with it, for you are Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180). “Do not waste the remaining My parlour palm is suffering, though I know not from what you it’s more that they don’t like it when you act in a way <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Martin Stannard<\/strong>\u2019s poetry and criticism have been widely published since the late 1970s. His most recent collection is\u00a0 Poems For The Young At Heart<\/em><\/a> (Leafe Press, 2016). Website: www.martinstannard.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Houseplant Advisor Following my own old advice I have put the first part of this, i.e. the part that came out first, at the end or, to be more precise, near the end. And it’s not always first idea first place though often it can be if one is able later to apply […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[136,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2017-poetry-picks","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12349,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12348\/revisions\/12349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nof this, i.e. the part that came out first, at the end or,
\nto be more precise, near the end. And it’s not always
\nfirst idea first place though often it can be if one is able later
\nto apply objective quality assessment procedures to the first
\ndribbly emanation of what may prove to be, if the world
\nowns any justice, a pleasing breakfast diversionary read.<\/p>\n
\nI’m sure all ears. Or eyes. Today’s topic is “Houseplants:
\nAre They Worth The Tears?” My own feeling, if I may make
\nso bold as to come right out with it, is to echo sentiments
\nfirst uttered when the world was younger than it is now
\nby one who knew what it was to live the life of an emperor
\nwhilst nurturing the belief that all woes are Nature’s way:<\/p>\n
\npart of your life in thoughts about other people, when you
\nare not thinking with reference to some aspect of the common
\ngood.” Oh, perhaps that’s not as apt as I first thought. How
\nabout this: “There is a river of creation, and time is a violent
\nstream. As soon as one thing comes into sight, it is swept past
\nand another is carried down: it too will be taken on its way.”<\/p>\n
\nas the leaves turn brown and dry and eventually drop from
\nwhat the manual describes as “a plant almost impossible to
\nkill.” As ever, the chances of being allowed to wipe the slate
\nclean and start over are slim to none. You can don a new
\nnail varnish if you want to but that’s about as far as they’ll let you
\ngo. People are so demanding. It’s not that they want to like<\/p>\n
\nthey don\u2019t like, as if it’s your job to keep them happy
\nand not disrupt their world or break the glass of the greenhouse
\nin which they propagate their never-ending annoyances.
\nI didn’t know I was born for other people’s ease and pleasure
\nyet here I am, all learned up and nowhere to go tonight:
\nI kind of wish I hadn\u2019t spent so much on this dress.<\/p>\n