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September 27, 2017

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Photography, Poetry

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Prairie Petals

IMG_7371

Flowers from the prairie
evoke a time when
pronghorns fled buffalo,
and prairie dogs
nibbled sagebrush
amid burrowing owls
and mountain plover. 

Now they nod their pumpkin petals
beside clapboard colonials
where children bounce
on shielded trampolines
and squirrels chase
cardinals from bird feeders.

The seeds find the soil,
the leaves find the sun,
and the petals find me.
I don’t know the scent
of sagebrush but I know
the bitter tang of Gloriosa,
with its roots in the past.

Copyright 2017 Brenda Davis Harsham

Notes: This photo is the Gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta), native of the North American prairie. Someday I’d like to see Yellowstone, home of buffalo, hot springs, wildflowers, tourists and the super-volcano.

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