Podophyllum peltatum
I’m trying to get lost
somewhere south along the mountain
when I break through a tangle
of fox grapes & stop short:
an insurgent sea of mayapples
bobs in the breeze, a minature forest.
I remember the stories I’ve heard
about human-shaped roots
& how they’ve yielded a new
weapon against cancer.
I think of them crowded together
in the stoney dark.
We who eulogize private virtue
& small acts of kindness,
have we forgotten the glory
of the grand gesture? I stand
as immobile as that line of tanks
at the Gate of Heavenly Peace,
unable to go farther without
crushing one or two.
Their parasols make a brave show,
but they keep their faces down
& their yellow focus on the fruit
they know will come, if only for a few—
fruit that may or may not be digestible,
flowers that may or may not self-pollinate,
depending on the encampment,
& insects that may or may not visit,
since the mayapples offer
neither nectar nor desirable pollen,
& seem to persist because a few bees bumble
& forget where they are.
OTHER POSTS IN THE SERIES
- How to Know the Wildflowers: Preface
- Spring Beauties
- Red Trillium
- Painted Trillium
- Miterwort
- Marsh Marigold
- Goldthread
- Foamflower
- False Solomon’s Seal
- Early Meadow-Rue
- Dutchman’s Breeches
- Appalachian Barren Strawberry
- Wood Anemone
- Wild Geranium
- Mayapple
- Golden Ragwort
- False Hellebore
- Fairy Bells
- Trout Lily
- Hepatica
- Yellow Violet
- Jack-in-the-Pulpit
- Starflower
- Dwarf Ginseng
- Bloodroot
- Cutleaf Toothwort
- American Golden Saxifrage
- Blue Cohosh
- Ambrosia artemisiifolia
I love how you stumble upon them like Keats’s Cortez! Sort of.
“Silent, upon a peak in Darien”? Or is that another poem? (I am so poorly educated.) Actually I have been reading Neruda’s Art of Birds, so that’s probably the influence here — although with his wondrous poems ringing in my ears, I can’t help but be dissatisfied with this!
I love how all these poems hint at natural facts I do not know… but now long to know.
Cool! Yeah, the cancer treatment is pretty impressive. They’re using a semi-synthetic derivative of mayapple root to treat at least two kinds of cancer, testicular and small-cell lung cancer.
I have access to Bioabstracts BTW, so if you ever need the text of a journal article, let me know.
I was hoping you would do mayapples. Like the under-business, the roots, the hidden flowers.
Thanks. Feel free to shoot me an email detailing any parts you think could be improved. This one just doesn’t seem quite there yet.
Like the poet, the bees bumble in and forget where they are. Nicely done.