Above: Heart Of A Poppy
You can almost hear a Dahlia before you see it.
31
May
Monday Afternoon, Two Flowers
by Jon Katz
Above: Heart Of A Poppy
You can almost hear a Dahlia before you see it.
Jon, Many years ago I bought my first house. Next door was a rented double where “Millie” grew a gazillion dahlias right along the chain link fence that separated our yards. I was in my early thirties, she must have been in her sixties or older. She smiled at me as I admired her flowers, but she didn’t speak English … Polish, maybe … but one day I noticed numbers tattooed on the inside of her forearm … . One fall day I discovered a brown paper bag on my back porch … turned out to be dahlias. She moved, I guess, because I never saw her again. But I think of her often, especially EVERY time I encounter a mention of the Holocaust. Now I am again planting dahlias in remembrance of Millie and hoping that my heir will continue them. For Millie … and all the others.