Like herald trumpets announce royalty,
My silken flower miniatures announce dusk,
Mirabilis jalapa—miracles of Peru(1).
Opening at twilight’s incantation
And closing with morn’s sun.

In their third shift sleeping—unremarkable,
Wilted little ribbons in sunrise hues.
It is at dusk they orchestrate their magic
For an audience of moon, and moth.
Each color opening in stretto—
Sections in a symphony.
Conquered, appropriated, exported
To romantic gardens across the globe.
Like theirs, mine contains certain complicities;
Pink seeds smuggled from Monet’s Giverny,
Yellows lifted from a Polish palace,
Fuchsia pocketed from a Cinque Terre vineyard,
(Whites legally purchased from J.J. Jung seeds).

Each spring I plant last year's saved seeds,
Working soil between my fingers,
Pressing peppercorn-like seeds into earth,
Each pot Magic Marker color-coded,
Awaiting its transplanting day.

I praise their beauty with open eyes,
And in full knowledge that my words
"Giverny," "Polish palace," "pocketed"
Are motive, means, opportunity, method.
Tomorrow's warrant—
For an armed and masked
Customs SWAT team
To swarm my little United Nations garden,
Arresting the illegals—
Leaving whites as bystanders,
And my passport confiscated.
Thus, I write under pseudonym.

(1) Gardener’s note—Mirabilis jalapa originally propagated by the Aztecs in the area of Veracruz, but “discovered” by Conquistador Hernán Cortés and shipped to Peru where they were popularized and exported to Europe.