When I was five turning six I got some poppy seeds. I planted them inside my house in a little seed tray. Outside there was five feet of snow over my garden. Inside the poppies were growing vigorously. Every day I would measure their growth by making a mark on a popsicle stick. I was so excited, I could not wait to plant the poppies in my garden. My hopes were wasted, for that summer I found out that poppies don't bloom the first year. The next summer when I was seven my parents had a new roof put on the house. The poppies didn't bloom that summer either because the roofers trampled over them. When I got the poppy seeds I thought I was going to have the most beautiful orange flowers in my garden, and oh how disappointed it was to still not have poppies yet. The summer when I was eight, one poppy finally bloomed. I was so happy I finally had a flower. Last summer I had two flowers, and so I collected the seeds to replant. Next season I expect to have a least five flowers.
Geogia O'Keeffe's painting "Oriental Poppies" is special to me because I like flowers as she did. Her painting of two poppies reminds me of my two poppies. In Georgia's mind, a flower is larger that the tiny flower that others saw. The bright, blod poppies that she painted depicted the larger than life flower.