Ornamental, trumpet-shaped. Blood-fruited, showy, conspicuous. 

Orchestra of blush carried across water. Seeds ancestral and scattered. 

Uses: herbalism, tea served hot or cold, sticky-rooted confection ascendant

to marshmallow. Bubble soap, eye drop, shoe polish. Poison antidote.

Behind the right ear, signal of availability. Goddess and flower merge, inseparable. 

Rose of sharon, rose of luck, rose abundant with alternate names. Comfortroot. 

Hollyhock. Hothouse blossom. Althaea's shrub. Omen of fleeting beauty. 

Ruffled skirt in cascading bloom. Symbol of perfect wife or burning building. 

Silken ruby, prized hybrid, siren song. Magnum opus unlocked by ray of sun. 

Evergreen and free-flowering. In your auditorium of red sound, a muted buzzing. 

Vigorous creeper. Frilly, bisexual, bedazzled with five-lobed crown. Ribbon-like 

core of poem. Love elixir. Patio charm. Potted wonder of gardening aisle. 

Crimsoneyed, color-soaked, lover of heat: You remind me of my firsts.

Published July 4th, 2021

Lark Omura is a writer of mixed Japanese and European ancestry, born and raised on the island of Maui. She's an alumna of Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation, Winter Tangerine, Kearny Street Workshop's Interdisciplinary Writers Lab, and the Community of Writers at Olympic Valley. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Rumpus, Prairie Schooner, The Offing, Muzzle Magazine, and The Hawai'i Review,among other places. She holds an MFA in poetry from Rutgers University-Newark.

J.B. Murray was an artist from Sandersville, Georgia, where he was born in 1908 and died in 1988. In addition to galleries across the country, Murray’s work has been exhibited by numerous art institutions, including the Tate Britain, Collection de l’Art Brut Lausanne, Souls Grown Deep Foundation, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and American Folk Art Museum. More of Murray’s work can be viewed online at Cavin Morris Gallery.