Lynn White

The Paradox of Flowers

There is a paradox held fast in the language of flowers,

enclosed in their unchanging impermanency

and it alarms me as it gives me hope.

Only plastic flowers last forever

but even the wildest blooms

are locked up for life

prisoners of their genes

held tight with no remission

no control of their destiny

unremitting repetition 

following the seasonal ebb and flow.

Such is the paradox 

of permanence 

and impermanence

locked up in the language of flowers.

First published in Poets Online, Floriography Issue, June 2025

Hair

First came the flowers,

then the songs,

of hope

of  love 

of peace,

harmonies

of living

becoming

intertwined

with hair.

Then came the spikes,

the streaks and shaves

of grungy aggression

despair and fear

of what lies

outside

with the snakes

in the wilderness.

And now we’re here

in that wilderness

and there’s a medley

of coloured words

the dark and bright

pasts intertwined

in the words

and in our hair.

First published in Public Reverie, November 5, 2025

Hospital Poems

First they banned flowers.

Unhygienic, you see.

Unsafe.

With their smells

and susceptibility

to spillages

so people brought poems 

to hospitals.

Then there was a pandemic.

And people were banned.

No visiting allowed

Unhygienic, you see.

Unsafe

with their smells

and susceptibility

to carry infection

so robots brought the poems

to hospitals.

Now things have moved on,

progress, you see.

Now robots write the poems

they bring to hospitals.

Soon people won’t notice 

the difference.

Soon people won’t remember

the difference.

First published in Brave and Reckless, December  10 2023