Yesterday, you walked the street
with your arms full of tulips,
their quivering blooms pecking
your chin as you climbed the stairs
to your apartment. The city
is now so familiar, you did not
bend toward the bright taxi laying
on its horn across the street,
did not blink or fumble your keys
as you balanced your cargo with
elbows and knees against the outside
wall and let yourself inside, then bolted
the door behind you. The tulips
were yellow, yellow and red, with
scalloped edges. Some were
covering your lips. Or was it you?
You were in profile, moving quickly.
When the petals grazed you,
you did not flinch.
To a Girl
RACHEL MARIE PATTERSON is the co-founder and editor of Radar Poetry. Tall Grass With Violence, Rachel’s debut full-length collection, was released in 2022 by FutureCycle Press and her chapbook, If I Am Burning, was published by MSR in 2011. Rachel’s poems appear or will soon appear in many journals, including Harpur Palate, Cimarron Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Smartish Pace, Parcel, The Journal, Thrush, Nashville Review, Redivider, and Fugue. She won an Academy of American Poets Prize in 2012, and in 2019, her poem “Connemara” was selected as a Special Mention for the Pushcart Prize. She now lives in New Jersey with her husband and daughters, where she works for the State of New Jersey.