The Schrenck’s Tulip

look closely she says
on screen a green nothing emerges from formulated dirt 
explodes fully grown in five seconds
                                                                      starbirth of red and yellow
petals at the speed of impatience whose typically invisible daytime dance 
is betrayed by motion sensors embedded in the growth chamber

the Schrenck’s tulip has a wide growing range from Iran to Russia 

she says don’t we owe our lives to plants whose operations
we’ve commandeered in service to our own survival
how is this any different

the way she says it doesn’t sound like a question 

imagine a plant that could smell uranium
I’ve already said too much

where better to hide a secret than in a poem
where the unsuspecting public expects to find only indecipherable secrets 
where a flower surely could not be less than a message
                                                                                                        but what does it mean

a flower grows and no one notices do you see what I mean no one notices 
what happens in a poem not even the poet

no one notices how a flower grows 
that’s the genius of it

Read more from Issue 21.2.