The flower is made of non-flower elements.
We can describe the flower as being full of everything.
There is nothing that is not present in the flower.
-Thich Nhat Hanh
The governor asked us to pray up a storm.
A local told my husband that tree rings show
it’s the worst drought in five-hundred years.
From the pulpit, Brother J. Watson prayed,
That the rains may come in a gentle manner
beneficial to our valley.
Our stream is dry. The alpacas
are licking the mud, so my husband is off
to buy a huge stock tank at IFA.
There’s not water to grow enough alfalfa
in the pasture for our neighbor’s cows.
It’s real bad, he said, I’ll have to order
extra bales from Idaho.
I look at the milkweed—wilting in simmering
shade, a few caterpillars escape the gaze
of hungry wasps, and I wonder out loud,
where has all the water gone
if every flower contains a cloud?
———
“Megadrought” by Gwendolyn Soper
Source: Utah Life Magazine, March/April 2022 issue
Gwendolyn Soper 