By Ivy Rozen
We ate avocados
on toast, in salads, with chips.
We craved their pits.
We saved them in
venti plastic cups, logo fading
but my mom's misspelled name
remained in Sharpie.
Tap water, lukewarm:
only fill it half-way.
Stab the heart with wooden stakes
to hold it up, hold it steady
in the middle of the sea.
Some years it sprouted.
We cheered and hoped it was a sign,
but eventually it'd always die
before we could get it in the ground.
We ate avocados
on empty graves.
Ivy Rozen is a poet and free-expression advocate whose art reviews have been published in Fine Art Globe, Chatham Life & Style Magazine, and Education NC. While her first business, Ghost Flowers, was formed with the intention of promoting local artists, her second business, Wildweed Gardens, emphasized the importance of preserving nature and wildlife, which has become a major theme in her writing. After her Free Verse residency in Vermont, Ivy studied creative writing with a focus in poetry at Southern New Hampshire University, where she received her undergraduate degree while serving in AmeriCorps. As COVID came and businesses closed, Ivy joined the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission and began teaching Cathartic Writing workshops to help her community cope with the changes and uncertainties. This inspired the creation of her latest poetry collection, which focuses on the kindness that we show each other in times of shared hardship.
Hot Pot Magazine 