How Unlike the Wildflowers

Imitating intimacy of bees

Executing eugenics of species

We breed for color, shape, voluptuousness 

Using our arts and our sciences 

To force them to bloom under false pretenses 

In deceptively manufactured climates 

Deem stems worthy or unworthy 

Gifts to express emotion perfectly

Strip them of their thorns, peel away their petals 

Pull off their leaves to finalize their suitability 

As gifts to express our deepest emotions 

Or help conceal our most shameful lies 

Disembodied and imprisoned

For our enjoyment as they slowly wilt  

We place what we think of as perfection 

In a vase on our dining room table to die as we watch 

Denied their Purpose 

Perfection conceived, delicate petals 

Bloomed into the world to define beauty 

We redefine in our own mortal image 

Bred to fulfill others’ expectations 

Petal, thorn, root and leaf of being 

Taken by institutionalized shame  

Raised in hothouses where we are forced 

To bloom in only the conventional way 

By our appearance judged fit or unfit 

For the imprisonment of lifelong display 

How unlike the wildflowers that live freely 

Rioting in joyous fields of color 

None the worse for managing to remain 

Untouched by our improvement