PAD Challenge Day 22

Happy Earth Day!  It's a rainy one in my neighborhood today, but I'm not complaining because it's been a very dry spring.  Today's prompts from Poetic Asides and NaPoWriMo: (1) write a "judgment" poem (i.e., a poem about judging or being judged), and (2) in honor of Earth Day, write a poem about a plant.  I was inspired to write two today - both subjects have probably been done to death in poetry, but what the heck:

Open Letter from a Dandelion

Why do you judge me so harshly,

you gardeners and weekend lawn warriors

who attack me with sharp-edged tools

and toxic chemicals?  When did I acquire

the stigma of “weed”?  All I want to do

is brighten your yard, a burst of sunshine

in a sea of boring, uniform green. I bring joy

to your children when I go to seed – they make

a wish and blow on my fuzzy head, scattering

my seeds to the wind,  to perpetuate the species.

Some of you even like my saw-toothed leaves

in your salads.  So what is my crime?

Who are you to pass this sentence?

Just know that even as you root me out,

my children already grow somewhere else.

Narcissus

I chased the frightened deer into my net,

while Echo longed for me from in the glade.

When she professed her love I laughed, “Forget

this foolish crush – your girlish looks will fade

while mine will burn bright as Apollo’s wheel!”

I broke her heart, she wasted to a shade;

her voice is all that’s left, a plaintive peal.

When Nemesis caught wind of this, she made

me find my own reflection in a pool.

I thought, “My, what perfection!” and I fell

in love with this young man – oh, what a fool –

and frozen there, I’d waste away as well.

Cruel judgment? Well, perhaps, but here’s the thing:

my name is yellow flowers every spring.