Works in Progress – May 18, 2023

Glamour Girl: Beauty of Brevity
Jan. 3, 2020
Rosemary Burkholder

Like many a typical morning, I took my cup of black coffee to the back patio, situated where the sound of traffic from a nearby highway is muffled, for a peaceful welcoming to a new day. 

It was late spring, and I settled back into the wooden Adirondack chair that sat on a loosely paved, flagstone patio which allowed for certain plants to survive. My Akita, aka Kage, found her position next to me as we absorbed the warmth of the early morning sun. 

In the quietness of that morning, we heard a tiny plop and looked to see a husk from an Oriental Poppy that had fallen onto the flagstone. My eyes were immediately drawn to a fat bud that was elevated by a thin green stem.

I gazed in amazement as I watched the second, then the third husk fall to the earth. As it might appear through a time lapse, I observed the petals unfold into a brilliant, scarlet-orange flower, the kind that we made in elementary school with colorful crepe paper. 

The silky, crinkled blossom opened wide, exposing the striking but mysterious reproductive organs, a whorl of dark purple, almost black, stamens surrounding a large seed capsule. A gentle breeze gracefully moved the large petals, like silk fabric blowing in the wind. 

Mesmerized by the beauty just witnessed, I closed my eyes, and extended thanks to my higher spirit for giving me the ability to have experienced this occurrence. The short-lived Oriental Poppy blossom that overwhelmed my soul for a short moment in time, justified how I might forward this identical “joy” to others, in my own way, for an everlasting memory. 

This flower, native to Caucasus, an herbaceous perennial admired around the world, popularized by the 20th century modernist, Georgia O’Keeffe, blooms early, and all too briefly, and is known as the “Glamour Girl” of the garden.

To see her is to want her. 

How Much Do I Need
Jampa
Carbondale

Early morning light
Shines through the pansies’ petals
Perfect! Just this is enough.

There Was an Old Woman Who Died in a Shoe
By Deborah Holt Williams

There was an old woman who rewired her shoe,
And died by electrocution.
All her grown children didn’t know what to do
Regarding estate distribution.
Sell the leather on-line? Recycle the heel?
Finally they found a solution.
They kept the home whole, then (God rest her sole)
Gave a playground their mom’s contribution.