Notes for the Cactus Poem Poem by Michael Schmidt

The teddy bear cholla and the fat fat

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Oh buckthorn, devil, whipple, teddy bear

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Oh beavertail, oh pancake, porcupine

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Oh plump saguaro with your hairy arms, I love
Each of you with a different nerve of heart.
Especially you, so trim, so pert, your birds
Cupped in your pits and crotches, little friends

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Oh areoles and aureoles, the orioles
With yellow caps are havering and hot
Making themselves a breeze with their cut wings

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I ask the docent and he indicates

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Oh nation, how you might have been, spread from
So sure an order, with such tendering love