first line from Maggie Smith, “Goldenrod” : italicized words from prompt
Dear flower: I’m no botanist, my graduate degree
had a focus on entomology, so I’m more likely
to know the name of the bug munching your blossoms
than yours.
Sorry, I can’t meet your expectations
because my life got messy and I didn’t finish
the PhD. Not that it would have helped me
save your name from the fire that’s about to devour
your roots.Your name’s gonna disappear
from history, that’s just how it is. Everyone thinks
they’re an eternal star when they’re just
a glowworm, an ephemeral sequin on the nightgown
of history.
Fame is a poison pill anyway,
don’t you know? They write you up in National Geographic
and next thing you know tourists are everywhere,
unhooking their camera straps like pole dancers
getting ready for a set. Trampling the ground.
Setting wildfires when they toss their cigarettes away
and never notice, half-asleep, tired out by the demands
of ecotourism. Your horoscope predicts oblivion.
Be grateful.
I came with a dull knife, like
a ginseng collector, to show that my intentions are pure
(though probably indecipherable to you),
that I’m not some sap-thirsty cut-stem vegan.
Still, looming over you, I must seem as large
as the moon’s face by day. I swear I’m not the devil
who set this fire that’s throwing gaudy shadows
across the milkweed meadow.
I apologize,
I was really here to try to save the monarch larvae
but there should be balance in everything so
I will collect a few of your seeds before you are ablaze.
Books Available
Dervish Lions
The Day of My First Driving Lesson
Country Well-Known as an Old Nightmare's Stable
High-Voltage Lines
Knocking from Inside
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