Susan Coultrap-McQuin
The Ordinary Ones
Praise the Ditch Lilies’ existence
the optimistic orange ones
always reaching for sun, always
adding vibrance to their place.
Praise their calm endurance
despite sneers by master gardeners
being mowed by haughty towns
in search of a fancier look.
Praise their ordinary persistence
growing wherever they can
not bothered by anonymity
happy to mix with leaves and grass.
Yes, praise all ordinary resilience
of those overlooked, though in sight—
friends with bouquets for the grieving
neighbors who bloom in your life.
Susan Coultrap-McQuin is a retired educator. Her poems have appeared in journals such as The Dewdrop, Quiet Diamonds, The Poeming Pigeon, Plant People, Still Point Arts, and Green Ink Poetry, and in several anthologies. Her chapbook, What We Bring Home (The Poetry Box, 2021), is a collection of travel poems.