(The North American Pink Lady Slipper)
Near slow moving water
a crowd of lady slippers
gathers in the woods
this Saturday in June.
Tripping over their green skirts,
they carry with them
their endangered pink shoes.
They’ve come to discuss
the current situation.
Climate change is
a concern of theirs,
due to their symbiotic relationship
with a certain fungus and
the bumble bee.
Lady slippers- whisperers
of the past.
They grow where the
bloody feet of an Indian maiden
touched the earth as she
hurried over the snow
in search of the medicine
that would save her people.
They have many foes, lady slippers-
the occasional white-tailed deer,
the odd hiker,
and of course industrialization
and human expansion.
So this Saturday in June
these fine flowers,
delicate pink orchids,
huddle in their fern-fringed dell;
and pledge to send an SOS-
in the form of pale puffs of pollen,
from the depths and edges
of the continent,
for as long as it takes
to protect the wild places,
obliterate irrational borders
illuminate every city in green
and make our planet great again.
Note: Lady slippers are flowers found in damp and wooded areas. They are rare pink and white orchids native to North America.
Ann Drury is an educator and poet living in southeastern Massachusetts. Her poems have appeared in many literary journals including: Blueline, Penwood Review, and Muddy River Review.
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