“The Tallest Dandelion” © Bonnie Matthews Brock

 

Yellow Dandelion

I am a yellow dandelion on a dusty brick road
I stare down the sun, for he’s too bright
The sun-watch works every day as he runs away and turns to a soft white ball
          in shame,
Alas, I fall asleep in celebration, and he creeps up again –
gently at first, but he browns out my bilobed stigma until I start gawking at
          him again.

A few of my siblings grew up on the verdant green turf
Red roses and green cucumbers shared their lunches with my brothers,
Some of my cousins made mulch their abode,
Plum tomatoes and even sulfurous onions networked clandestinely with my
          sisters,
I was envious – for they had all feisty meals, and I had nothing but dirt.

All my siblings disappeared on an unfortunate day –
a mysterious tempest wiped them away but onion and tomatoes wondering;
All my cousins followed the tragic fate of my siblings too,
for they ruthlessly were plucked out, with their roots, by a sinister glove.

I gaze at the lonely sun and feast on the ruthless dust.
No evil hands or poisonous mist hunts for me –
I am just a yellow dandelion on a dusty brick road.

 

Kiran Kodithala is a tech entrepreneur and an aspiring writer. One of his poems has been published in Beyond Words Literary Magazine.

Bonnie Matthews Brock is a Florida-based photographer, as well as a school psychologist. Her images have been published in Ibbetson Street, The Somerville Times, Oddball Magazine, Beyond Words Literary Magazine, and Wild Roof Journal. Her work is archived at Harvard University, the University of Buffalo, and Poets House in NYC. Bonnie loves to capture, in images, a very wide range of subjects, and to learn and experiment with shooting and editing techniques.