Mountains, Mustard Seeds, and Marigolds
When a woman has a miscarriage,
it’s tradition for other women to offer her
forget-me-not flower seeds
in memory of the child. My friends give me
mustard seeds so I don’t forget my faith.
I haven’t been able to move my mountain.
I am a graveyard. I am a summer beach house
in the winter. My womb carries the wound.
My friends ask me if I want to bury the seeds,
but part of me doesn’t want the risk of another wilt.
Every summer season, I prepare myself for the pruning.
I look to marigold flowers in my mourning,
how their golden blossoms guide the lost home.
My friends say: home has never left you.
All flowers need the soil and its nutrients to survive.
They remind me to stay rooted, keep the mustard seeds close.
When they ask me to deadhead the flowers fading out of bloom
to foster fresh growth, I tell them: I am not a garden anymore.
(First published in The Elpis Pages: A Collective, in 2021)
it’s tradition for other women to offer her
forget-me-not flower seeds
in memory of the child. My friends give me
mustard seeds so I don’t forget my faith.
I haven’t been able to move my mountain.
I am a graveyard. I am a summer beach house
in the winter. My womb carries the wound.
My friends ask me if I want to bury the seeds,
but part of me doesn’t want the risk of another wilt.
Every summer season, I prepare myself for the pruning.
I look to marigold flowers in my mourning,
how their golden blossoms guide the lost home.
My friends say: home has never left you.
All flowers need the soil and its nutrients to survive.
They remind me to stay rooted, keep the mustard seeds close.
When they ask me to deadhead the flowers fading out of bloom
to foster fresh growth, I tell them: I am not a garden anymore.
(First published in The Elpis Pages: A Collective, in 2021)
March 2025
Jasmin Lankford is a poet, essayist, and teaching artist from Florida. In addition to Pushcart Prize and Sundress Publications’ Best of the Net nominations, her work has been published online and in print. Jasmin graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and completed her Creative Writing Minor in France at the American University of Paris. She currently works in social media marketing and hosts a travel video series.
Art: Claire Tang, Pushing Up Daisies. Oil on canvas.