A Conservatory Fancy- Framed In Glass Poem by Richard Blanch

Irresistibility- A Reflection on the Tending and Watering of Plants


Until-ness is spilling from within in a poised,
Taut, ready greenness, filling the glass that is a wall.
Exposed in transparency, in a shining lucid
Ambiguity, we twine leaves and stems, all succulence,

In winding traceries of transmutation. They rise,
Purple hibiscus, flushing vines, in columns of tall
Possibility. All around unfurls strong scented
Change: sweet citrus flowers fruit into keen sharpness-

Orange, lemon course the air. Here nothing cloys.
Textures pulp and rasp and soothe. Bees, insects, crawl,
Fly, purr their dedicated passion. Unfolded
To questing tongues glistens complex inflorescence.

Breezeless, rainless, drenched in light, crystal-filtered joys
Are creaming our casement, gold steaming in our hall
Of half-mirrored reflection. Here these see-through souls flit
In colours not their own. Here the tense tightness

Of love finds liminal freedom, parts lips, then toys
With petals, stamens, finds out nectar. Gladness calls
Iridescent through the world’s window, happily rid
Of inhibition, safe, aware, adventurous.

The air here sears, speaks, suggests, insists: cloth must be prised
From sweat, gummy flesh be merged with the word that drawls
From the honey throat of this impudent hothouse spirit:
Every flower is a phrase, whose shameless persuasiveness

Licks and laps, gasps and hums, till what is magnificently moist
Meets and quenches noontime dryness. Like dew, the power falls
Gently, softly; then firmly grips, heals, strokes and stirs, embedded
Deep and teeming, driving, murmuring. Then peace. Plant laughter. Stillness.
The soil sighs. Welcome, brazen one: greenhouse-born audaciousness.