Tag: double etheree

Creative Life, Poetry

Orchids, #dVerse Poetics, #double etheree

Photo I took at New York Botanical Gardens in 2009

an

orchid

intrigues me,

with its beauty

and its simple grace,

varied varieties,

speckled or veined with color,

rare types, popping color contrasts,

ruffled or smooth, they’re shapeshifting things,

I begin to understand Nero Wolfe

and his fascination with orchids

or the hold they have with smugglers.

they are mimics in disguise,

as monkeys or dancers,

ducks, egrets or bees.

under greenhouse

glass they thrive,

beauty

blooms.

© Susan Joy Clark 2021

This was written a little late for the dVerse Poetics challenge, in which we were challenged to write a poem with a gardening theme. I was not too inspired yesterday, suffering from a post Covid shot migraine. I decided to write about orchids which I have grown to love, beginning with some visits to public gardens such as the New York Botanical Gardens. This is a double etheree, with the following syllable count pattern, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Creative Life, Poetry

Conquering the Dragon(fruit)

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

who

would have

guessed that past

your unfriendly

exterior was

a sweet reward for those

who adventured? who was the

first to make the discovery?

bright and beautiful, your scaly hide

suits the fierce creature for whom you were named,

even the plant which yields you is prickly,

unwelcoming, dangling and serpent-like,

was it a wanderer sick from thirst

who was the first to conquer you?

who knew cactus could produce

a sweet fruit, gorgeous in

fuschia pink color,

with juices that

dye your skin,

purply

red?

© Susan Joy Clark 2021

Photo by Kanwardeep Kaur on Unsplash

This poem was written for the dVerse Poetics challenge. We were challenged to describe a fruit’s exterior and interior in a form of our choosing. I chose a double etheree. Dragonfruit (pitaya) seems to be getting trendy in the U.S., but I have only tried it recently. I bought some frozen cubes of the fruit to use in a fruit punch at Easter, and it did dye my hands with its juice. It seems it can also be white on the interior as well.