BY JAN HAAG
AND
11-4-97
O Devayani,
In a world not too filled with large petals
and
large leaves,
you think of the giant poppies
in the Botanical
gardens of Brooklyn.
Huge red poppies
far larger than a plate,
each single petal big enough
for bread and butter,
stand by
a pond
with stems like ropes, and leaves
as large as the giant
leaved
magnolia growing in Seattle's
arboretum.
Tall and skinny
stands the tree,
obscured in summer's
viridian lushness.
But
in autumn
when its leaves drift to the ground
each as enormous as
the sole of a large-
footed dinosaur, they become yellow
on one
side
and white on the other.
Between these giant poppies and
magnolias,
each in an Olmstead garden,
stood the forests
and
foliage
of North America's continent.
They were, O
Devayani,
and will be
again.
Copyright © 2000 Jan Haag
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Jan Haag may be reached via e-mail: jhaag@u.washington.edu
Fed Up
Feeding Frenzy
Gifts
India
Lung-gom-pas
Nothing
BY JAN HAAG