Floral Poetry: “The Secret Code of Flowers”

Because over the centuries, flowers inspire both literature and poetry, we are starting a poetry room.

Here is a poem titled “The Secret Code of Flowers” by David Simon.

THE SECRET CODE OF FLOWERS

Written By

David Steven Simon

Ever since the days of 

Perfectly fitted waistcoats

silk top hats

And the dangled kid glove

When spring made its entrance

As rowdy as a saloon 

It became open season

For desire.

Inhibitions were lifted

Like a Crazy Horse skirt

And for the pocket empty artist,

His swivel-eyed lust

Carried him by ragged foot  to

The impossible distance of

color spattered fields, where, 

armed with the seeds of paint,

He tried to figure out

The secret code of flowers

Which had spoken to him

In the confidence of God

since he was a child.

With the genuflection of 

The Hog’s bristle

And the consecration

Of the palette knife

The flowers were born 

out of creation

Becoming more and more human

With each and every stroke

The way Klimt’s sunflowers

Formed a soul

Kusama made her blossoms

Quiver with the hallucinations

Of childhood

And Van Gough’s violet irises

Wept with madness

From the asylum of

Saint-Remy-de-Provence.

And now

After all these years

The few that have survived

Besides the petals

interred in a copy

Of Wuthering Heights

Are the lilies of the pond

The Haverman vase and

The O’Keefe suggestion,

The wall-lined effigies of the ones

Who gave them life

Who are planted 

A million miles away

beneath the impossible distance 

of color splattered fields

Who wait 

As still as Pewter Jugs and Pink Statuettes

For the return of spring 

David Simon is an executive producer and writer of hit shows including “Made About You” and “The Fresh Prince off Bel-Air.” His latest show was “There’s Johnny” which which he co-created with Paul Reiser for Hulu.