long stems make awful arcs

Alpha Chen Create Commons image enhanced

Long stems make awful arcs when heads inhale,
Invert, and strive to earth with its stern pursed
Simple lips and tempting tan breast well versed
And content in curves running head to tail.

Many gardeners do not choose to veil
Inspecting eyes. Oh, where they may have nursed
Growing decline, they quickly think the worst,
Leap forward, and prune the round plants which fail.
In the center of reflecting tables,
Or on the sunny edges of curtained sills
Roses rooted in urns spire toward gables
And wilt to moist folds despite plant food pills;
Then they are pressed thin in books of fables
Or preserved in freezers filled with stark chills.

For background on the poems I’ve published on Medium see “about these poems”