Bud Burst
Poems about tree flowers and pollination
A brief disclaimer: I wrote these poems as an ode to spring, and like spring they burst forth quickly and without much editing. For a class project, I tried to do some science communication on a part of spring that I think gets overlooked—tree flowers.
Thanks for reading!
Yellow Birch
Don’t say a bud has burst unless it is The wind-swept hair The mane The meteor shower The jangling laughter Of the yellow birch. Their male flowers Drop off the twigs In a waterfall of creation Into a river of air That whips their seeds away Where they float and flutter In its swirling currents. Their female flowers stand erect Bobbing in the breeze Buoys in an ocean of gas And the wind Like a river Brings the pollen to the sea.
Red Oak
Red oaks are torches Touch your finger to the twig and feel it burn. Their buds are campfire Embers rising in the air As smoke trails As pollen on the breeze To the next oak tree Look on the last day of April For the light in the canopy. The oaks are glowing With the blaze of early leaves. It is a fire light. The moths know it and come by the hundreds to breed and eat and be I’m drawn like a moth to them, to get lost with them in the fire light that breathes.
Red Maple
If I were a tiny God, Maybe a sweat bee emerging for spring I would love the red maple tree. I would sit in the firework of flowers Filling myself on nectar From red Dangling Strands Dionysus in miniature Juices dripping Off my shining emerald face Droplets in my bristles Reveling in the soft sheets of petals Pollen puffs plastered And glowing On my abdomen Like a thousand tiny planets. I would rise buzzing To celebrate The next burst of life.
This next one isn’t about trees or buds, just another springtime joy.
Ostrich Feathers
There’s a race, of course! They're best friends. They make each other better. They’re supporters and enemies and confidants and Love. They grew up together In late April. They’re in a band together. They both play the fiddle. Well one says he plays the violin But they match energies Playing together for weeks on end Rising in tempo Unfurling Crescendo Unleashing a song so lively That everyone in the floodplain hears it And opens their leaves and beaks and ears to spring.
Your attempt was successful!😊