Dandelions Are Rare Poem by Sonny Rainshine

Dandelions are rare.
It is rare to find a living thing
with so much tenacity,
so much joie de vivre.

Like Susan Hayward
in the movie of the same name,
they want to live.

Dandelions grow root systems
that are as complex and as sprawling
as a New Jersey suburb.
You can poison them,
chop their heads off,
put a curse on them,
call them naughty names,
and exhume their mangled bodies,
but next morning they’re grinning at you
like smiley faces.

Can you do that?

Ambassadors of sunshine,
all they ever wanted to do, I hear,
is to properly accessorize
our front yards—
(hosta has its limits) and to
carpet our front lawns with joy
LOTS of joy.