How to Care for Your Rabbit’s Foot Fern
Even with the best of care, you may occasionally lose some of the older fronds. This is normal and not an indication that you have done anything wrong.
–– Jackie Carroll, GardeningKnowHow.com
i.
When she first comes home to you
she will be small and contained
––only just leafing. You will love her
because she is a fragile centerpiece.
Pale green means no direct sun
-light should fall on her.
ii.
Before long you will notice her
nest. It will grow out from under
her arms. Twine around the clay
pot she lives in. You may notice
her develop fur. Do not check for teeth.
She has toes now, and she counts
them privately.
iii.
The clay pot will become more or less
innocuous as she becomes around it.
Do not take it away––
she enjoys feeling her roots press down
on something that used to be earth.
iv.
When she is older she will know
how to hold herself completely.
Wait. Dread feeling unneeded.
v.
Her lifetimes sit in the shallow
of your palm. She will brittle
and her fronds will die and all
you will be able to do is clip away
the wreckage from her home.
vi.
Watch while she recovers what is lost
thickens her nest and tucks
herself closer and closer
in and in.
Roseanna Alice Boswell is a queer poet from Upstate New York. Her work has appeared or will soon appear in: Driftwood Press, Jarfly Magazine, Capulet Magazine, and elsewhere. Roseanna holds an MFA from Bowling Green State University, and is the creator of Bunny Zine Press. She currently moonlights as an anxious English adjunct instructor. Find her on Twitter @swellbunny posting about feminism and her love of exclamation marks.