Gossip Blooms

No stigma here, the statement clear,
herbaceous in audacious dare,
summed up in long division clumps,
with rhizomes, half-soil, half-sun zones.
Bold flags stand clear beside path wind
where crazy steps are slowed by thyme,
despite blue speedwell webbed among,
while each turn beckons change of view.

Alpines range, crack edelweiss,
flames, flamingos, forget-me-nots,
scree of grit in tumbledown,
montbretia abseils from above.
Aubretia plumps slake thirst with lime –
mounts purple head in Lilliput –
snow in summer scales crevasse sides;
ice plants, stonecrops, petal flakes.

Global lilies, Cuba, Peru,
by bottlebrush and baby’s breath,
bee balm, bellis and bergamot,
Columbine of dell’Arte fame.
From bell towers, campanula swing,
as Christmas, Lenten rose for faith,
Michaelmas, Star of Bethlehem,
while brooms sweep up their far flung seeds.

Golden rod, red hot poker too,
shoot ember flames by feverfew,
the blacksmith, hammered by his brew,
wants solitude from bellowed voice.
Snapdragon where no nostril fire,
where love lies bleeding, in-a-mist,
lady’s mantle for monkshood wear,
goosefoot long, before steps parade.

Worldly stagecraft laid out as planned,
the pity, pleasure, profits made,
the Greenman watching as earth is played,
a commonwealth of health displayed.
For folklore, medicine, lovers doomed,
witches, wizards, wholesome wealth,
those stories gossiped, hovel gloom,
I take that crazy walk through blooms.

Published by Academy of the Heart and Mind, 22nd June 2022

https://academyoftheheartandmind.wordpress.com/2022/06/22/touchstone-and-other-poems/