POEM OF THE DAY

Drama in the glasshouse! Here is a poem from Announce This, published by Templar Poetry and shortlisted for this year’s Callum Macdonald Memorial Award for poetry pamphlets, run by the

National Library of Scotland. Lauren Pope, the poet, comes from Los Angeles but has been based in Edinburgh for more than a decade.

BOTANICS

I held my breath, wondering if the Kadapul flower would flirt with evening –

stretch open in one long smoky post-coital yawn.

We listened to the curator describe flowers as passing clouds; mother passed us water Stay

hydrated, we may be here a while – as if we would wilt without 8 oz a day.

In the space of her whisper the blossom opened, raised its head towards death.

A feral tongue blinked within folds of fanned pearl, a spray of pollen perfumed the air,

someone sneezed; the deviant cackle trailed from sight,

leaving in its wake, a pile of crumpled silk.