Prompt: Did the narrator “prod” Noodle too much?

Did the attention he gave to Noodle cause his death?

Women with Flower

Naomi Long Madgett

I wouldn’t coax the plant if I were you,

Such watchful nurturing may do it harm.
Let the soil rest from so much digging
And wait until it’s dry before you water it.
The leaf’s inclined to find its own direction;
Give it a chance to seek the sunlight for itself.

Much growth is stunted by too careful

prodding,
Too eager tenderness.
The things we love we have to learn to
leave alone.

Vocabulary from the Story (use at least one vocabulary word in your essay):
armada (n): A large group of moving things: an armada of ants crossing the lawn.

billow (n): any surging mass: billows of smoke; (v): to make rise, surge, swell, or the like: a
sudden wind billowed the tent.

careen (v): to lean, sway, or tip to one side while in motion: the car careened around the corner.

doggedness (adj): persistent in effort; stubbornly tenacious: a dogged worker.

evanesce (v): to disappear gradually; vanish; fade away: the clouds evanesced by noon.

exotic (adj): intriguingly unusual or different; excitingly strange: an exotic haircut.

heresy (n): any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs: I believe bad
punctuation is a heresy.

imminent (adj): likely to occur at any moment; impending: her death is imminent.

infallibility (adj): absolutely trustworthy or sure: an infallible rule.

precariously (adj): exposed to or involving danger; risky: the precarious life of a diver.

reiterate (v): to say or do again or repeatedly: I reiterated the importance of spelling.

solder (n): anything that joins or unites: the solder of their common cause.
vortex (n): something that draws into itself everything that surrounds it: the vortex of war.