64 Flower Poems Ii Poem by Saiom Shriver

GOLDSMITHED ROSE

All life is sacred
but one day he chose
that the Japanese beetle
was greater than rose.
Crawling in his greenmail* armour
over the Goldsmithed bloom
ready to turn gold petal fire
into pure insect flight.
He found when he chose
the bug oer the
rose
God gave him back
endless blooms of rose

(re a takeover attempt of Goodyear
by James Goldsmith which resulted
in Goodyear Aerospace being
sold to Loral with missile technology
given to China) .


APPLE CHAPEL PINE SHRINE

Is God's favorite chapel
orchards appled?
Her Ichi Ban shrine..
trees of pine?
Her beloved mosque
vine covered kiosks?
Her best synagogue
a cranberry bog?
Her holiest church
woods of birch

(to N and E Kempel)

BLUEMS

When chicory
and periwinkle

.. catching blue
star twinkle

bloom
... they're bluems


NO ADIEU

The bees need not
bid the blooms adieu
for the morn brings
new nectar and dew


IN THE PRIDED WOOD

In the prided wood
the Lord of Luminescence
gives each fruit
a dewy tumescence
and with light each
lemon limns
and with love
each lime he lines.


IN THE COUNTY OF FAIRFAX

In the county of Fairfax
in the meadows flagged with phlox
stop the fair unfair who fright the fox
before they eat the flanks of flocks


TWO ROSES DWELT ABOVE

Two roses dwelt
above
.. the meanest sharpest
thorns
So high they
swayed
in morning light
their petaled fleece
was never shorn


DANDELION DIASPORA

The rain, weed-wed,
has
multiplied
these
gray haired flakeheads
and now

dandelion seeds float in the air..
by the Bubble Blower sent aloft..
which ones will mystically touchdown..
to root in our hearts?


NOT IN CHAOTIC SHARDS

Not in chaotic shards
do dandelion seeds
burst from their ball.
Each part as perfect
as the whole.
Each each contains
the all.


BEETLE BITTEN BEE BIBBED BLOOMS

The beetle bitten blooms
are now beautiful of lace
The bees have bibbed
all the nectar
and the emptied bloom chalice
will now hold new dew.


BUTTERNUT AND BUTTERCUP

Held the dew
the concave buttercup
better than
the convex butternut

as listening ears
have healing
in their cups

with what
chalice'd joy
does the buttercup
hold
the liquid sunup


(to J Miller, to L Yost and to others)


DO FLOWERS CHASE BEES?

Do flowers chase bees?
Does Mother Earth bite?
Do rivers run backwards?
Do
butterflies get speeding tickets? It is to the meditater at the
tree's base and not to the hunter that the gentle deer come.
***

(to bee attracting C Nevada
who juggles 3 careers)


PHLOX UNFURL THEIR FLAGS

The phlox unfold
their bee flagons
that busy bees
not be flaggin
The phlox unfurl
their flags of joy..
made of the caught
flames of the sun..
with hues
unique to no nation..

As the world warms
in the flux of love
there will be less need
for foxes' gloves
or phlox gloves


PICKPOCKET KUDZU

Kudzu pickpocket
crawling along
the pickets
and up the trunks
looking for caches
and caves of squirrel
seeds..

as Love climbs over
the heart.. looking
for chinks which will
let Him in


THISTLE BLOWS

Tangent to the mistle toe
Near where the harbor whistle crows
she the dearest epistle knows
is watching down of thistle blow

Her favorite sermon
.. Jack In the Pulpit
surrounded by his
bee disciples


LACKADAISICAL

As they watched buds unfold
and to blooms explode

they called the wind
lackadaisical..
but because he in freedom blew
the world will never
lack for daisies..


OAK AND POPLAR

The centenarian oak
cares not
that less slender
is poplar body cloak
He cares not that
in gardens papal
more popular
are the poplars


HAT OF BLUEBONNET

Mother Earth's hat
of meadowed bluebonnet
Out of the blue
how quickly she dons it
To the sky spirea aspires
while snapdragons to the sun
sing a silent
sonnet
Such a beautiful world:
God smiles upon it


NO PRUNING

His plum tree
he did not violently
prune
and therefore
he had
many times more prunes


DELILAH'S DAHLIAS

No longer need
Samson fear
Delilah's shears.
Reborn is
Delilah
..
.. safe are the curly heads
of dahlias

MASTER OF ASTERS

Has made manifest, God, Weaving Master
the unfolded fan spheres of each purple aster
while Mother Earth has knitted strong knots
in the faithful blue forget me nots.
and the sun has tied seamless buckles
from the roots to the blooms of the honeysuckle.

Of all beings, God is the
seamster, the weaver,
the knitter, the tier,
He welds, He unites, He joins
every leaf and soul with His sunfire.

DAFFODIL CHALICE


Father winter
.. he did fill
the hopeful cup of
wee daffodil
with the cold
sorbet
of chill
the icing of
snowspill.

But it melted
quickly..
and soon to
the touch of
the sun
the daffodil
did thrill.



OLIVES OF WRATH

There are olives of wrath
as well as grapes of wrath
... bulldozed
from their mother trees
May God
Who is Nonharming
Who is Peace
change all ways
so that always
peace will be theirs and thine
peace will be for all.. for mine

MAXWELL PERIWINKLE BLUE

Stars
above & their twinkles
are mirrored by
ground periwinkle
.. they do not sparkle
as much as J's smile
breaking through
her cheek crinkles


to JMB


DANDELION BLOOD

Dandelions' blood
is green..
Dandy lions' blood
is red
Because they hurt
They have bled


HOLLY HOCKS

Thought Holly in her hammock
'Never will Holly hock
the seeds of her
precious holly hocks

Their standards of cheer
are receivers of joy


GOLDENROD DUST

Dorothy has grown
since her trip to Oz..
she now prefers
a goldenrod powdered
wild trail..
to the yellow brick road
**


WATER LILIES

water lilies
offer landing pads to
dragonfly helicopters


SNAPDRAGONS

Snapping turtles
avoid eating
snapdragons
fearing
a return snap


32
THE SPUN SUN

The sun
that night did shun
seen everywhere
in trees and flowers spun



JADE LINEN

Ever the tree of linden
is spinning his green linen



GRAPE GLEANINGS

Purple Grape gleanings
spun from sun gleamings
.. like the violet sunrise
shining in the gloaming


ORCHID BEDFELLOWS

They all alight
upon
the orgy of orchids..
the dragonfly
for a place to rest
the bee for nectar..
(though he loves his queen more) ..
and the cicada
to munch upon the
leaves

(my muse for this poem
is Joan Beth Clair who wrote
'the black and yellow bee
the black and yellow butterfly
.. on the flower together'
.. paraphrased poorly
from memory)


NO HIDDEN ARROWS

There are no hidden arrows
in the bright golden yarrow
who ever knits her gifts
from the earth's very marrow



FOXGLOVE

The foxglove meant no offense
when you brushed by her fragrant fence
and she slapped you with her white glove



DUNEGRASS PAINTBRUSHES

Paintbrushes.. ten thousand
dunegrass blades: soft spears
work to paint the
blue sky sphere

yet no matter how
many strokes of green
the sky remains
invulnerably blue


CARNATION CORONATION

God's creation:
The incarnation
of pink carnations...
.crowning circle of bees
completes coronation

ANEMONE

Beauty gives her
hegemony...
the pink bush of anemone
.. a flock of settled
butterflies..
...with nary an enemy


WILD VIOLETS

The gardening headline
said the wild violets
were a persistent weed

they scotch these
purple fragilities
with such
a heedless facility