Susan Sklan is a social worker and published poet, an Australian now living in the Boston area. Her poems have appeared in Constellations, Folio, Kalliope, Nixes Mate, Pleiades, Sojourner, Soul-Lit, The Centennial Review, The Muddy River Poetry Review, and other journals and anthologies. On passing an old lover’s address was chosen by the Cambridge MA, Sidewalk Poetry Program, 2018, and installed on a city sidewalk. Her poetry chapbook The Letters was published by Main Street Rag, 2023. Her poetry book The Lost Garden is to be published by Finishing LIne Press, 2026.

Susan Sklan

The lost garden

She carried the garden inside her
so she could take it with her across borders.
The lemon tree settled and its roots
grew down one leg.
Lemons, she thought, are always useful.
A Norfolk pine kept her standing straight.
The bamboo she kept in a pot,
so it would not take over everything.
Her mother’s lavender clasped her heart
and urged it to keep beating.
Passion fruit vines grew out with her hair.
In the midst of her grief,
blue and red parrots flew out of her suitcase.

— Susan Sklan

 Susan Sklan (originally published in Better Than Starbucks, 2021)