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THE WILD THINGS – Ann Drury

on January 14 | in Poetry | by | with No Comments

(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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