Coptis trifolia
White-lipped anthers
purse & part.
The sturdy styles end in hooks —
it’s not enough to be adhesive.
Nectar pools in the petals’
yellow spoons
above a white dish of sepals,
which shatters in the first hard wind.
This blooming is so early & brief,
the leaves are better known:
like the glossiest strawberry leaves
you’ve ever seen
growing in the least fertile,
most pristine parts of the forest,
far from plow & logger,
from fire & subdivision,
just under the scruffy
surface of the world
threading a net of gold.
OTHER POSTS IN THE SERIES
- How to Know the Wildflowers: Preface
- Spring Beauties
- Red Trillium
- Painted Trillium
- Miterwort
- Marsh Marigold
- Goldthread
- Foamflower
- False Solomon’s Seal
- Early Meadow-Rue
- Dutchman’s Breeches
- Appalachian Barren Strawberry
- Wood Anemone
- Wild Geranium
- Mayapple
- Golden Ragwort
- False Hellebore
- Fairy Bells
- Trout Lily
- Hepatica
- Yellow Violet
- Jack-in-the-Pulpit
- Starflower
- Dwarf Ginseng
- Bloodroot
- Cutleaf Toothwort
- American Golden Saxifrage
- Blue Cohosh
- Ambrosia artemisiifolia
I must say this is a beautiful series and collaboration of photos and poetry, Dave and Jennifer!
Thanks, Marja-Leena. Satisfaction is of course fatal, but I’m pleasantly surprised by how well it’s going so far — and I’m more impressed with Jennifer’s photos the longer I look at them.
Aw Shucks… Any chance you can come to Jamestown when the exhibit is up? We can schedule a poetry reading!
There’s gonna be an exhibit? I guess I didn’t focus on that part of it. Sure, presuming the project works out and I can get there via train or bus.
http://jenniferschlick.wordpress.com/2010/08/12/gallery-show/
Oh wow! I don’t think you shared that link before.
I’ve got a heavy dose of envy: to see this flower in the wild; to capture a photo so gorgeous; to write of anthers & shatters.
I’ve never seen it in blossom myself (we don’t have them here in the hollow) so yeah — me too! And I’m sure it’s not easy to get good macro shots of such small beasties, especially when they insist on growing in very damp situations.
This is turning into a terrific series, you two!
Thanks! (Though I wrote this yesterday when I should’ve been editing a podcast. Sorry about that!)