Poetry Day Ireland 2025: Duplex by Stuart Barnes
Duplex
Cleft phlox (Phlox bifida)
In spring I fly open and burn pale purple,
petal-edges curving like C clef.
Curve over pebbles, my little C clef
I sing to the skipper (which flocks, which flocks),
icing for the skipper (Which phlox? Which phlox?),
explosion for root rot, powdery mildew.
My taproot powders erosion's eye. Still, you
log and you crop and you dam and you mine.
You log and you crop———I damn you to mine
my oval emerald almanac.
My emeralds go across fall———the knack
outrages you like the cocklebur's sting.
I'm outrageously bright and bursting
to fly open in spring and burn pale purple.
First published in Modron Magazine, 2024
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