Shining Horns

Nature Writing at Raven Chronicles Online

Brett Roth

Irises

A flutter of petals, the irises bloom

like your eyes when you're surprised

and become a swirl of underclothes.

Ignored in the corner garden until

they expose themselves, teasing

flowers flush purple and blue on green.

Temporary visitors, the flowers return

year-after-year, like a favorite sister

in-law who bakes a chocolate cake.

Unsurrounded by any other flower,

the irises are not alone because two

burning bushes and a cherry tree stand

between them and a dead-end street.

I forget they exist, until their petals

are impossible to miss waving hello.