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.