Goldenrods
1.
queer goldenrod,
empty-wombed goldenrod
love for life sticks in my throat
a gall
in a dried stalk
among curled leaves
rattling against February
first standing tangled and stark
with aster and thistle and teasel
against the snow
then springtime growing full, tall, unmowed, weedy
unseen all summer
until August
loves a meadow of goldenrod
2. Common Name
early, late, tall, sweet
rough-stemmed, cut-leaved
gray bog pine-barren
showy stout seaside
zig-zag rough-leaved
wand like, blue-stemmed, hairy, erect
alpine-downy, slender-fragrant
early, tall, sweet, late
3. Acid Meadow
grasses flame purple into orange
goldenrod tangle
where root systems are inextricable
are systems
passing information and nutrients and disease
holding fast to each other
sharp tall teasel and broad cup plant
ashen gray seedpods and thick loosestrife
I ask the plants where it is polite to piss
and they answer like this