2005-01-23 - 7:50 p.m.


i am alternately cruel and kind to the basil plant that is my friend. already i have pinched off most of the largest leaves (never at the tip). no matter how lovingly i put it in the sun every morning, it continues to wilt rather than prosper.

(maybe it is because i only tell it repetitive, boring stories.)

so i find myself hastening its demise by taking more and more of its greenness for my soups and sandwiches and even just for the sake of rolling a leaf around my mouth, to take away the bitterness of my cheap 2 pence tea.

i am sorry, tiny plant! erm, at least i gave you a cool antique plate to rest your little plantfeet upon?


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