Wednesday 23 November 2011

Bulbophyllum Nocturnum

For Fergus


A night-flowering orchid, the first of its kind known to science, has been described by a team of botanists.
Experts say the "remarkable" species is the only orchid known to consistently flower at night, but why it has adopted this behaviour remains a mystery

How they oppress, the prisons of the hills
They are so easy to overrate
We have opened up the satanic mills
In all honesty, I have learnt to hate
William Wordsworth's fucking daffodils
I find no romance in tranquility
There is no poetry in my poetry

You'll see no metaphor or simile
In my work. They have served us ill
For they are delusions merely
Pathetic fallacies. My skill
Is in describing the ordinary
There is much to be said for banality
There is no poetry in my poetry

In our corrupted universe
They are deluded who turn to the light
Merely in their tedious verse
Let us praise flowers that bloom at night
Not sunsets, angels or Celtic slush
And explore strangeness not beauty
There is no poetry in my poetry

2 comments:

Fergus said...

Bravissimo. I come from a long line of orchid smugglers.Paphiopedilum Sanderianus, the orchid with the longest petals, is named after my great-grandfather.

willh said...

An amazing story - if true. There is a world of wonder in the genus orchis