Yellow Violet

This entry is part 21 of 29 in the series Wildflower Poems

 

Yellow Violet by Jennifer Schlick
Yellow Violet by Jennifer Schlick (click to see larger)

Viola pubescens

Long after the yellow funfair tent
with its sudden shower of pollen
& its sweet prize has been packed away,
after the bees have gone
in search of other diversions
& the forest has grown dark & thick,
the violet hosts a quieter, stranger sideshow:
the cleistogamous flower, a tent
that never opens & admits nobody.
Like a Wall Street investment firm
writing I.O.U.s to itself, it has
all the magic it needs
within its green inviolate room.
We may infer the success of its transactions
only from its conversion
into a new instrument,
with contents set for future release—
a hedge against all the vagaries
of spring & commerce.

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2 Replies to “Yellow Violet”

    1. Thanks! I was pretty pleased with myself for coming up with that. (An earlier draft also had a line toward the end referring to the violent expulsion of the seeds, but it didn’t really fit with the rest of the imagery so I had to axe it.)

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