PHYTOPHILIA
by Angela Costi
Perspective: Zamioculcas zamiifolia at Melbourne Law School
Get directions: 37°48’07.8″S 144°57’36.9″E
The first time she entered my space, she kept looking at me. I was stoked to have someone who was clearly enveloped in the study of law with her laptop, notebook, print outs… spend a bit of time studying me. I’m not bad to look at. Even I know that. You could even think of me as a bit of a miracle. Without the sun’s light, without the forest’s air, without the gardener’s daily care, I am the plant you would normally find in a landscaped environment. I have a way of making myself greener than green. I can curl my stem and fan my leaves as if I was feral, planted in the wilds where rain is not moderated in a plastic can.
But I am planted with others, competing, complementing, endeavouring to collaborate with me within our precious bowl of soil and food-mix we’ve been given to survive. Still, I’m a little bit different from the others and I think that’s why she reached down towards me. I thought, Oh no, she is going to touch me! But then she didn’t, she was on her knees, her eyes sending me signals of love.
I’m fluent in the language of human eyes. I’ve been studying them for years. If it was possible, I would have a masters and doctorate in the dialects and linguistics of eye communication. She was clearly falling in love with me. I could count on her to visit me every day, except weekends. Early morning, before her first lecture, on her own, kneeling before me, telling me, without uttering a word from her mouth, how she wished she was like me, Strong, Resilient, Proud.
Her love is what made my leaves stronger, her love is what made my stems resilient, her love is what made me reach beyond my bowl and grow towards her. She didn’t understand at all that I was able to do this; that with her love, I gained that extra sprout of strength, resilience and pride. If you asked her, she would say, My eyes need to rest that’s why I search out the green. And in a way, she was right. Her eyes argued too much with whatever her computer was spewing. But one can look, see and gaze without feeling. She did none of these things.
Fancy responding to the Zamioculcas zamiifolia?
2 responses to “Zamioculcas zamiifolia”
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Angela Costi beautifully captures the joy potplants can give us in work-related environments, cut off from the natural world: “My eyes need to rest…”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Angela Costi is a graduate of Law at the University of Melbourne and an author of six poetry collections, nine plays and four video poems. Her creative writing, including essays and fiction, have been widely published in print and online journals, including Farrago. Her poetry chapbook, Adversarial Practice was commended in the Wesley Michel Wright Prize 2024. She has received City of Melbourne funding to launch her sixth poetry collection at the Old Magistrates’ Court, March 2025.
Words from angela
I visit the law building at 155 Pelham Street on many occasions even though I’m no longer a law student. The ground floor has a study space where green potted plants are located at the entrance and by the window in that space. These plants seem to be quietly assuring and affirming the lives of the students seated amongst them.
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