Purple coneflowers again
they take my breath away!
every single summer
it's as though
I'm seeing them
for the very first time,
these old friends.

a baby blue jay
clinging to a magnolia
posing like a pro

sometimes the things that most
pain me are tiny and barely noticed by most,
grey nuanced subtleties and prickles,
rather than splashy, full-blown atrocities

I think I respect a shouted I hate you
more than a whispered I know what's best

Black-eyed Susans?
Really? Why not
Brown-eyed Donnas?

(Life is so unfair.)

prehistoric posies, all silver and spikey
conjure my imagination and I search for
bitty dinosaurs under the leaves

I spent the day trying to catch hummingbirds
and the night trying to catch my breath.

"Crocosmia Lucifer"

I had never met one before today!
How could something so wonderous
be named so poorly???