Wild Geranium

This entry is part 14 of 29 in the series Wildflower Poems

Geranium maculatum

Alum Bloom
you of the shocking
blue pollen
Chocolate Flower
root once used
as a styptic
Old Maid’s Nightcap
fruit like
the head of a bird
Cranesbill
bursting open
expelling the seeds
Crowfoot
each seed with a tail
that curls & straightens
Sailor’s Knot
pulling itself into
a likely crevasse
Rockweed
what fool
invented these names?
Shameface
a flush beloved
of the bees

Series Navigation← Wood AnemoneMayapple →

Dave Bonta

I live in an Appalachian hollow in the Juniata watershed of central Pennsylvania, and spend a great deal of time walking in the woods. Here’s a bio. All of my writing here is available for reuse and creative remix under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For attribution in printed material, my name (Dave Bonta) will suffice, but for web use, please link back to the original. Contact me for permission to waive the “share alike” provision (e.g. for use in a conventionally copyrighted work).

davebonta.com

Share this:

Leave a ReplyCancel reply