Classic Poem

The tufted Swamp
Onion from high wet
bogs; Soap Plant
used to stupefy fish,
the crushed roots
tossed in raw, seeding
a creek with paralysis;

the Death Camas, whose
tender leaves reek
poison.

All spring the true ones
stumble up from clumsy
graves, meek as handmaidens
at first, then fisting
forth tight buds.

Some years, rich or poor,
whether I"ve lived
generously or not,
they float like stars
in my garden: Empress,
Tiger, Leopard, Turk

and the ones called
Enchantment.