Yellow Flowers

for William Corbett

Pie-wedged petals

deeply pinked and

the yellow of yellow oranges,

set in a single

layer, ray out

from a pollen shedding tuft:

see the bright dust

on this filing cabinet

enameled the greeny-cream

of the seed-cradling inner flesh

of an avocado

these yellow flowers

on wiry stems, bunched

in a thick gray pitcher:

two bands of washed-out blue,

two transfers in same (“You

don’t want

that clunky thing.”)

 

and petals fall and tufts

puff up, a brown fuzz ball

with a green frill: the hard

green balls with green frills

of course are buds: and

 

you plunge your face

in their massed

papery powdery sweetness

and grunt in delight

at their sunset sweetness

 

it begins with C

 

yes: coreopsis