"Valedictory to Late Spring Flowers" by Peggy Dobreer

Valedictory to Late Spring Flowers

Fire rains
            over meadows of wildflowers;
            populations of poppies and cosmos,
            eucalyptus, pine, and Douglas fir.  

A summer of incineration
            stoked by hate and hoarders.
            Only first responders remain methodical,
            mesmerized by duty.  

The rest of us
            keep wearing our masks, shaking our heads
            at the failures of D.C. equilibrium.
            Hail the particularity of unprecedented precedence.  

We are over-ruled, over-run, and over-shouted for the next win.
            Let the leveling burn all forest against change.             

What if all the Peonies crapped on the Dahlias,
            all Tulips closed over Columbine, and
            all of the Buttercups beat up on the Yarrow?  

What if Lavender enslaved Fuchsia, Hydrangea imprisoned Iris,    
            Salvia raped Penstemons, Nasturtium murdered Lilac?
And please don’t bother mentioning the Paint Brush, Morning Glory,
            Leopard Lily, Blazing Star.  

What if they all just pulled up root and took to the streets like refugees?

Peggy Dobreer

Peggy Dobreer is an L.A. poet with a long history of curating local arts and literary events. A former choreographer and touring member of the Padua Hills Playwright’s Festival, she is an irrepressible advocate for integrating artistic disciplines for personal expression, human connection, and social change. Drop & Dazzle (2018) is Dobreer’s second book with Moon Tide Press. The first, In the Lake of Your Bones (2012), received a warm welcome and was released in both Los Angeles and Prague, where she studied with James Ragan at Charles University, in the School of Anglophile Studies. Dobreer was awarded the 2017 Downey Symphony Orchestra, Poetry Matters Prize, and is a two-time Pushcart nominee. She was a Program Director at A.R.O.H.O. 2015, a women’s writing retreat at Ghost Ranch, and has two poems upcoming in the first AROHO Waves Anthology. Dobreer’s chapbook Forbidden Plums, written in the first 40 days of the pandemic, was selected for publication by Glass Lyre Press and will be released in 2021. For information on books, events, and services, go to: https://www.peggydobreer.com.

Headshot: Cat Gwynn

Photo Credit: Staff