The New England Aster is a Missouri Native perennial plant found in prairies, meadows, stream banks, and thickets across most of the Midwest. It is a wildflower and member of the Asteraceae family. The word aster, coming from Greek, meaning star refers to the shape of the flower itself.

by Lynn Ascrizzi

They’re firing purple from the rock wall,

shouting hurrahs amid gloriosas,

towering on leggy stalks

near the rose trellis, before the frost.

The dames are taking over.

Fringy and sticky, drunk with nectar,

they lean and swagger,

staging a revolution.

Volunteers from last year’s seeds

spring up near the house,

and new forces bivouac

down the long dirt drive,

ready to occupy the roadside

past the mailbox.

Shovel in hand, I am fully enlisted

in the cause of late bloomers.

I transplant rootstock,

shake out new progeny,

post ensigns amid the wan and cheerless,

marshal troops down desolate hollows,

seed my universe with stars.

Poem copyright © 2012 by Lynn Ascrizzi. Reprinted from Puckerbrush Review, Puckerbrush Press Inc., 2012, by permission of Lynn Ascrizzi.

Painting by Suzanne Massion 2021