Mophead Hydrangea [Haiku]

hydrangeas
bloom in dense clusters,
feuding to open

Orchid [Haiku]

an earth tone orchid
spits out a tongue of purple,
bucking disguise

DAILY PHOTO: Yellow Cosmos

Taken in 2009 at Reynolds Nature Preserve in Morrow, GA

Lantana [Tanka]

two flaming umbels
of yellow-orange lantana;
but my eye
moves to the bud cluster
that sits in the background

Chicory Dance [Haiku]

chicory -
its little blue flowers sway,
 dancing with stems

DAILY PHOTO: Rhododendrons & Ridges, Appalachia

Taken in November of 2021 in North Carolina

One Rumpled Flower [Haiku]

one flower
stands, rumpled & in the rear,
but is just as bright

Himalayan Nettle [Villanelle]

The hardy Himalayan nettle stings.
It felt like punching piles of jellyfish. 
The slightest brush feels like a snapped bowstring.

But the balm of time bowstrings quickly bring.
The nettle's cure proved far more standoffish.
The hardy Himalayan nettle stings. 

Two days on, the nettle still sent its ping.
My hand numb like I'd fondled Fugu fish.
That slightest brush felt like a snapped bowstring.

I put my useless limb in a web sling. 
Not really, but it did hurt fiercely-ish.
That hardy Himalayan nettle stings.

Oh! of such agony Divas do sing.
Not really, but it was unpleasant-ish.
The slightest brush felt like a snapped bowstring.

Stabbed by roadside nettle in Darjeeling
is a fate upon no one I would wish.
The hardy Himalayan nettle stings.
The slightest brush feels like a snapped bowstring.

Pampas Grass [Haiku]

pampas grass
ripples in a slight wind,
lulling me to sleep