Flowers, home, and hope

Conversations with my loved ones who became refugees and a new poem.

My Ukrainian mother-in-law loves orchids. She used to have many of them in her apartment in Kyiv: dozens of pink, white, and purple blooming plants. When Russians started the full-scale invasion two years ago, she left her home in a hurry with only a few suitcases and a cat. The orchids were left behind. She kept thinking of them and mentioning them in …