Christopher Lloyd
active adaptation
you are still asleep so I down
coffee and dry toast alone,
morning breath like car fumes
I repot the ferns and palms
to give them space to shift
and unfurl, though I always
worry I am either over or
under-watering them, too
much care or too little, what
is the good enough plant
parent? how have I kept
them alive for so long
when your predecessor
said all I did was kill things?
but with you here it’s like
I tend your leaves not
theirs, ever watchful of
the soil, stick a finger
in to the second knuckle
as you instruct me to do,
check the roots aren’t
drowned / dry / heavy
with fungus gnats, they
flourish in the damp
and bite you at night, it’s
a balancing act for sure,
this foliage balms the lounge
but trips my gut, I hear
you stir so I curl soil from
under my fingernails and
bring you a warm mug
in my stained hands
coffee and dry toast alone,
morning breath like car fumes
I repot the ferns and palms
to give them space to shift
and unfurl, though I always
worry I am either over or
under-watering them, too
much care or too little, what
is the good enough plant
parent? how have I kept
them alive for so long
when your predecessor
said all I did was kill things?
but with you here it’s like
I tend your leaves not
theirs, ever watchful of
the soil, stick a finger
in to the second knuckle
as you instruct me to do,
check the roots aren’t
drowned / dry / heavy
with fungus gnats, they
flourish in the damp
and bite you at night, it’s
a balancing act for sure,
this foliage balms the lounge
but trips my gut, I hear
you stir so I curl soil from
under my fingernails and
bring you a warm mug
in my stained hands
Biography
Christopher Lloyd (he/him) is a writer and academic based in the UK. He is the author of the micro-chap PUT MY HEART DOWN (Ghost City Press), as well as stories, poems, and essays published in Fruit Journal, Queerlings, Homology Lit, FEED, Roi Fainéant, and elsewhere. Find him on Twitter: @clloyd9, IG: @chrisllloyd9, and on his website: christopherianlloyd.wordpress.com
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