"Houseplant Love" Is Up in The Mantlepiece

lornawoodauthor

May 2

Diego Delso, delso.photo, License CC-BY-SA. 17 Aug. 2014. Islet next to Heimaey, Westman Islands, Suðurland, Iceland.

Thanks again to Editor Lillian Heimisdottir for publishing my poem, "Houseplant Love," in the May issue of The Mantelpiece. When I wrote about the magazine before, I had really only looked at the poems, to see if mine would be a good fit. Having now looked through the May issue with more care, I can say it is eclectic and cosmopolitan. I'm proud to be in it.

"Houseplant Love" is an extended metaphor representing my idea of how I would like to be loved. It prioritizes mutual caring and respect for independence. The plant definitely seems female in the poem, and I did think about the underlying idea that being stuck in the house and providing "grace" and "a breath of fresh air," recalls old-fashioned views of women as domestic angels; but it's also accurate for me. Not that I'm a great housekeeper, but I enjoy being home, and the quality of our home space is important to me. I'm not particularly graceful, or even gracious, either, but I believe my husband appreciates the humor and caring I bring to his life, as I appreciate his unfailing steadiness and kindness. As for the fresh air, this is actually a powerful image of the female lover being naturally life-sustaining, much as a plant can't help but produce necessary oxygen.

Whether you want to weigh in on any or all of this or not, please take a look at my poem and the whole Mantelpiece issue. I plan to start with the article on Thomas Hardy and his real and literary women. If you want to read about a man who actually treated women like potted plants, and not in a good way, you can start there, too.