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\u00a0Orchids<\/strong><\/p>\n They are guilt-inducing like unwanted pets. They reduce to thin brown sticks. Nine months of near-death, and a few buds appear, Their waxy heads multiply, purple-veined \u2018Don\u2019t leave us,\u2019 they whisper. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sarah Barr<\/strong> lives in Dorset and writes poetry and fiction. Her poems have been published in anthologies and magazines, including Bridport Prize, Templar Press, Emma Press <\/em>and Poems in the Waiting Room.<\/em> Some of her poems have won prizes in competitions for example in 2018: 2nd in the Poetry on the Lake, 1st in the National Memory Day competition, and shortlisted in the Charles Causley competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0Orchids They are guilt-inducing like unwanted pets. Not being completely heartless, I water them every few months over spring and summer. Otherwise, I neglect and starve them. They reduce to thin brown sticks. I wait for them to find their own way out onto the compost heap, their pots into the recycling […]<\/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":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19357","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=19357"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19359,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19357\/revisions\/19359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nNot being completely heartless,
\nI water them every few months
\nover spring and summer.
\nOtherwise, I neglect and starve them.<\/p>\n
\nI wait for them to find their own way out
\nonto the compost heap,
\ntheir pots into the recycling bin.<\/p>\n
\nstems, more fat buds, which I ignore.
\nTheir growth is persistent.
\nI transfer them to the kitchen window-sill.
\nA few drops of plant-food, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n
\nor white-rimmed, with pointed tongues,
\ndotty eyes, and lemon kitten faces.
\nThey all nod down at me.<\/p>\n
\nI learn there are more of them on earth
\nthan birds, or fish or mammals.
\nI polish their succulent greenery,
\nstroke them, ask their permission to go.<\/p>\n