The Rise and Fall of Life, Poem by Margaret Towner

THE RISE AND FALL OF LIFE

Poem by Margaret Towner

The three-tiered plant hanger

is on the patio where my mother

could see it from her chair

when she was still living

in the house. Barb hung it high

last year and placed three

bright pots of graduated size:

one white flowering plant

at the top, in constant bloom,

a jade plant in the middle

always pale green, and finally

a red blooming succulent

with flowers that come and go.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Margaret Towner is a teacher of English learners and students at-risk in reading. She lived for many years in Latin America—Uruguay, Chile, El Salvador, and Mexico—and translates poetry from Spanish to English, writes children’s music, and performs Latin American music. In 2005, she received the Jane Buel Bradley Chapbook Award, and her poetry will be featured in the Cancer Poetry Project Anthology, the Serving House Press, and the Center for Nondual Awareness.

“The Rise and Fall of Life” and other poetry by Margaret Towner will appear in the Silver Birch Press Green Anthology — a collection of poetry and prose from authors who reside in the U.S., U.K., Europe, and Africa — available March 15, 2013.