Tulipomania by Val Pedrick

fleshy brown bulb

tight tunic sheath

palmed gently into

winter’s womb slumber

 

spring green emerging

curved leaves enfold

stem snakes erect

viperish bed swells

 

fluted flower bells, but

no bud case bursts,

no calix collars

tulip’s smooth throat

 

petal folds flush

green goblet fills

pumping pink pigment

to pert petal tips

 

red satin petals

pout to reveal

silky black stamens

pulchritudinous pistil

 

red satin hearts

shed bloody tears

bared capsule bears

seventh-year seed

 

seventeenth century

‘Tulipomania’ –

six million pounds

for one tulip bulb

 

twenty-first century

fantasising gardener

mad about tulips

has ‘Tulipomania’?