Growing Pains
Matt Coonan | Poetry, Fall 2025
Our flamingo lily lives on an ageing file cabinet
near the window. Each week, a student tries
their hand at class botanist & fills a Dixie cup
halfway with sink water. I show them how to
gently lift the heart-shaped leaves & spill
evenly, nourishing each root. Sometimes, I
forget to take it home during holiday breaks
& my kids return frantic—their closest thing
to a class pet wilted by the ancient radiator.
Our botanist works overtime, by which I mean
carries a slightly heavier Dixie cup. After recess
it is just about, but not quite upright. A boy
blooms his fist to reveal the first of many teeth
that will leave him & asks how to put it back.
__________________________________________
Why is this piece your Trace Fossil?
“As a grade school teacher and poet who leans into the narrative, I’m interested in unpacking childhood perspectives on life’s big questions. I think this poem offers a snapshot to early encounters with growth and loss, and discovering how they often come as a package deal.”
Matt Coonan is a poet, emcee & teacher from New York. He holds an MFA in creative writing and literature from Stony Brook University. He is the author of Toy Gun (Button Poetry, 2023), as well as two chapbooks. His poems have been featured on Button Poetry and published in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, The Southampton Review, Inklette, among others.
Growing Pains
Matt Coonan | Poetry, Fall 2025
Our flamingo lily lives on an ageing file cabinet
near the window. Each week, a student tries
their hand at class botanist & fills a Dixie cup
halfway with sink water. I show them how to
gently lift the heart-shaped leaves & spill
evenly, nourishing each root. Sometimes, I
forget to take it home during holiday breaks
& my kids return frantic—their closest thing
to a class pet wilted by the ancient radiator.
Our botanist works overtime, by which I mean
carries a slightly heavier Dixie cup. After recess
it is just about, but not quite upright. A boy
blooms his fist to reveal the first of many teeth
that will leave him & asks how to put it back.
______________________________________
Why is this piece your Trace Fossil?
“As a grade school teacher and poet who leans into the narrative, I’m interested in unpacking childhood perspectives on life’s big questions. I think this poem offers a snapshot to early encounters with growth and loss, and discovering how they often come as a package deal.”
Matt Coonan is a poet, emcee & teacher from New York. He holds an MFA in creative writing and literature from Stony Brook University. He is the author of Toy Gun (Button Poetry, 2023), as well as two chapbooks. His poems have been featured on Button Poetry and published in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, The Southampton Review, Inklette, among others.