Under the magnolia tree,(a gazebo of thick pink petals)
we find a plummy crimson quilt of tiny blooms.
At first, the children and I are puzzled.
Magnolia babies, says one. Clover, guesses another.
We lie down on our bellies to get a closer look.
In dappled light we note the whorls of reddish-purplish flowers,
hooded like Capuchins with blushing faces,
leaves bent into hearts, toothy stitches, straight stem seams.
A knowing friend identifies them. Red dead-nettle, she says. No sting.
The children decide it’s a blanket for bumble bees, a sleeping bag for caterpillars.
They give it a new, less macabre, name.
Pretty Not Nettle, they call it. And it is.
Gabriella Brand’s short stories, poetry, and essays have appeared in over fifty literary magazines in the U.S., Canada, The United Kingdom, and Australia, including Cordite, Echoes, and Step Away. Her travel writing appears in the Christian Science Monitor and The Globe and Mail.Gabriella is a Pushcart Prize nominee and serves as the Poet Laureate of her town. She teaches writing and languages in the OLLI program at the University of Connecticut U.S.A.
Latest posts by Gabriella Brand (see all)
- Quilt (Lamium Purpureum) - 10th March 2023