i am jealous of the seven plant cuttings
that i got from my friend
one sunday afternoon - a succulent
called vicks that smells like a camphor
some spotted snake like leaves
a chain like cascade with cardoid leaves
some needed to be cut exactly somewhere
for the severed roots to understand
they cannot sprout as leaves on the underside
that they are needed to draw water
that they used to be something
that function is something to perform
not something they were.
all this for houseplants
that wouldn't survive a day
in soil outside
i perhaps send my hands in this soil
hoping they will become roots
and my ears someday become leaves.