She'd transplanted bulbs
from bed to bed, preferring
this spring's reds and yellows
in clumps of display. Yet

a stray corm, dormant for a season,
now bloomed apart in brazen
defiance. The nurse
had phoned; a nodule found

required more evaluation. Bulbs
winter silent and deep as dead men
until their ordained
time of resurrection.

May 21, 2001

Donna Smith