Soporofic Poem by Douglas Scotney

Last night,
out on the edge of the concrete driveway,
'neath the nibbled red petals of the Aztec lily,
immobile earwigs were a surprise to me.

Also called sprekelia formosissima,
now that there's a drug
in its petals for sure,
I'm calling it too, amaryllis sopor.

Tonight the earwigs had wisely withdrawn,
the drug less important than life
and the petals' food-function small,
if not not existing at all.