linen white thimbleberry
blossoms in dense scatter
robust and masculine
throbbing cow parsnip
skunk cabbage leaves like hammered
plates of thin green copper
all seducing, birthing, growing, multiplying
all springing from death
all summering toward death
in myriad singular beauty
*Copyright 2010 by Luther Allen. This poem appears in The View from Lummi Island.
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thimbleberry photo