This week, we are focusing on the poetry of Ada Limón, the current poet laureate of the United States. I was only somewhat familiar with her and her work before, but when Kym proposed that we choose one of her poems this week, I decided to get to know her better by reading her most recent poetry collection. The poem I'm sharing today is from that book.
In the Shadow
The wild pansy shoves its persistent face beneath
the hackberry's shade, true plum and gold,
with the alternate names: Johnny-jump-up
heartsease, or my favorite, love-in-idleness.
I bow closer to the new face. I am always superimposing
a face on flowers, I call the violet moon vinca
the choir, and there are surely eyes in the birdeye speedwall,
and mouths on the linearleaf snapdragon.
It is what we do in order to care for things, make them
ourselves, our elders, our beloveds, our unborn.
But perhaps that is a lazy kind of love Why
can't I just love the flower for being a flower?
How many flowers have I yanked to puppet
as if it was easy for the world to make flowers?
From The Hurting Kind, (c) 2022
This is one of the dog-eared pages in my copy of The Hurting Kind. I have handwritten notes lining the page as well with my own added "human" flowers. Thank you so much for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteI loved this one when I read it a couple of weeks ago! "Why can't I just love the flower for being a flower?" what a wonderful reminder!
ReplyDeleteI read The Hurting Kind but I don't recall this lovely poem! Thank you for refreshing my memory and all those delightful names for pansies. Heartsease and love-in-idleness are my favorites!
ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful poem, Sarah! Thanks for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful poem by our very gifted poet laureate. I am also reading The Hurting Kind.
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