I have been carefully taught by my mother:
not to smoke in public,
not to trust men
or to dress all in black.
I have also been taught the flowers by name:
which is black-eyed Susan,
which is marigold,
how they should be watered
and how much sun they need.
We planted red petunias on Mother's Day
and her pink geranium
grows at my front door.
And while I had to unlearn
a lot of what she taught me
as I grew,
I will always remember the flowers