Isabella Crugnale

Anti-Ode to the Flower

Isabella Crugnale 

Must you always abandon

me like this, flower? 

The way you stood with poise 

as though Michelangelo 

himself sculpted 

you, your arrogant incessant flaunting 

of your captivating petals,

your attention demanding

yet mesmerizing aura,

had made me believe Flora

herself, her undying 

beauty and all, lived in you. 

You surrounded me with all your life

just to die when I welcomed 

you inside my home. 

You were a decrepit

old man in a mask

lying to my eyes, leeching

off my benevolence

with covetous hands.

Flower, why not just apprise 

me of your timeline 

rather than desert

me like this?

You left me to come across

you weakly hunched 

over as a rotting shepherd’s handle

with crisp browned leaves flaking 

away from less than a breath, 

to tell me you abide 

by mother nature’s hourglass. 

You’re a natural-born fabulist, 

incorrigible and rapacious, 

bringing your mirage of esse

down with you when 

you inevitably fell. 

Author’s Note: I love the freedom of writing and how it is open to expression and interpretation and how beautifully written stories and words can change people's perspective or become a part of their life and influence who they are. This piece of poetry I wrote was inspired by me just seeing how things in life always inevitably end or don't always continue/happen despite how much either myself or others really wanted it to and I wanted to write something that captured those feelings of abandonment, leaving, and no control.