A World of Flowering Misperceptions

-
A World of Flowering Misperceptions

“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” – Henry David Thoreau

The child who was told from birth that “flower” meant
The daisies on the windowsill, and never was sent
To pick the crimson rose in the park next-door,
Perceives the vibrant roses as nothing more
   Than folded discolored daisies, not flowers, he’s sure.

When judged by lily criteria, sunflowers seem
Too bright a flower with blinding sunny gleam
When placed against the placid lily’s guise:
Their light is dimmed when seen through lily eyes.
    Because they’re not the lilies their beauty dies.

The daisy’s frail when one expects a rose,
The lily’s pale as far as sunflowers go –
Experience often predetermines worth,
And so we judge our neighbors on the earth.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walker County Council Meeting: March 3rd

-
  Walker County Council Meeting: March 3rd — first Thursday of every month The quorum hobbles through the hobbled door of the civic center, as if being touched by God in the hip socket were requisite for living  here. Commissioner Teems bestows the blessing followed by the minutes, then opens the floor for public comment. The proposed rock quarry in Rock Spring is of chief concern, the chief financial officer proffering the neighborly promise to open the floor just above the water line,  which is just more lies—per Vince McGill  off Five Points Spur, down by the Helicopter Park— to obtain the land and begin drilling well below that, contaminating the ground- water. Up bubbles a low murmur, then a spill over  of comments regarding the recent infestation  of litterbugs in Lafayette, the merit of another bite on tax dollars for the county’s new Dodge Ram,  a shout out for such a damn successful Desert Storm  memorial at the library. No decisions ar...
Read more

Refurbished

-
REFURBISHED The ladybug dies  wedged in wicker,  is spray-painted green.  Disassemble yourself.  Free trampoline.   Not one to jump to conclusions, but if even pipe-smoke throws a shadow in moonlight, nothing is ever full- nothing, right?  The trees agree to lower the veil  and reveal the bare strip of road which runs behind the house.  The white roar of leaving  never leaves, and the porch  light flickers but never goes out.  In a world of partially resurrected things, the quick and the dead dance a tango then collapse in a tangled heap to make  furious love till morning shakes the can and picks a fade-resistant shade of light.
Read more

The Bends

-
 THE BENDS           At a certain depth the voices all thrum at the same, garbled pitch.  Both wisdom and the waiting swarm of bees call you up for air,  both wisdom and the Anglerfish draw you deeper. Do you paddle faster  from Leviathan or close your eyes and wait?  Once inside, do you stab the tender heart or caress it? There’s leagues on leagues but we’re in  out of ours and the tanks are low. You die if you come up too quick, you die  if you don’t surface soon, and at this sounding we won’t be dragged out by the light  of the moon. As to good news, t he returned ship sloshes vacant  at port while the wreck is found  at rest on solid ground, home now  to an ecosystem riddled with life.
Read more