Instructions for transplantation

Notice the shallow terracotta pot overfilled

with plants that do not grow together gladly

Morning sun sedum morganianum dripping graygreen

pillow leaves profilate on the cobblestones

Old World lavandula stoechas, tomentosed tender

silvery fragrant two-lipped healer

Violet leafed Ipomoea batatas, inedible cultiver cousin

of yams, stretching up & out for warmth

Drought worthy agave americana who flowers

her fini sans pareille

Compelled to proximity through an inexorable human will

unwilling to heed the needs of root bound things

Gentle hands will be inept at disentangling

codependent rhizomes come up together

So wield a machete at the spot midway between

Sedum and lavandula, whack the cementing muck

Don’t frighten at the breaking of a branch

Just marvel as earth spills to reveal shallow roots

Grown to the farthest edge of burnt clay

Woven together like tartan

Cut through those with firm decision

Then encourage lavandula with kindness

Explain her new home will be wholesome

Tell her she will flourish if only she forgets

The severed parts of herself. 

Jessi Fuller Fields is a Queer poet and writer based in Sao Paulo Brazil. Her work deals with breaking silences and exploring generational traumas. Fields completed an MFA at Queens University of Charlotte in 2020. Her poem 'They were lost, they were found' is forthcoming in Typehouse Magazine.