So Let Me Leaf

Respect for the (Usually) Utterly Unremarkable Iris

My iris blossoms are dying off now.

They only last a few weeks at the early start of June. But in that brief burst of lofty floral towers, there is nothing more beautiful in the universe!

No petal that more perfectly commands my gaze—

And they grow stubbornly towards the sky despite any obstacles that would bar their beauty from florescence . . .

But the greatest lesson I take from them each summer is that they are a quiet plant for most of the seasonal cycle. Nothing flashy or special, just green blades swaying on the breeze, sometimes jewel-lit by a liquid spangle—

No one affords them much admiration when their blossoms are yet unspoken colors. And why would they?

Utterly Unremarkable

My favorite flower remains
utterly unremarkable
for more than
eleven-twelfths
of the year,
—invisible—
of the least traces of glory
except for a few stray
weeks in summer.

But oh, what showy diadems
the Iris bares beneath blue airs
in those fleeting June hours—
Each blossom a fragile fortress
that defies gravity with
sheer transient beauty.

I hope one day to bloom like so,
to race past my eleventh-twelfth
as my syllables and stories grow
straight and sleek as blades
cutting towards the sky!

Half a life ago, I wished all
my pages would burst into
unyielding incandescence.
But now, I bide my time
in the soft dark of
linear dreams,

—ever so slowly—

Inking a petal and paper tiara
so that one day, perhaps, I
shall have a coronet to
hold up to the sun and
share like a soul.

Living in the dazzle-me era of social media can make one feel like a failure when you’re not presenting yourself as a perennial show flower. One that never wilts, blesses a fallow spell, or bulbs in the deep loam of mediocrity before tracing the shape of a blossom!

The iris reminds us:

“Don’t look at me. Really, don’t bother—I’ll blossom when I’m good and ready, when I’ve supped on enough sky and filled my roots to the brim with delicious dirt and cool waters!

So let me LEAF.”

“I’ll crown the world with colors when it’s time. Maybe only for a moment . . . and maybe that ephemeral flash is all I ever needed.”

Here, then gone—but always wholly myself.

*If you wish to support my ink, peruse and perchance purchase a tale.