Grape-Smelling Flowers
One summer we swam to Goat Island,
or rather, lazed there on a float,
our short-lived triumph marred by
an attack of ravenous horseflies -
plunging conquistadore visions into
the algaed depths of Lake Kickapoo,
we languidly dog-paddled
to rocky shores hosting prickly-pear,
purple bull thistles, Indian paintbrush,
picnic remains, and a splayed
Roadside Flowers of Texas,
whose meticulous pages (alas!) never
revealed the true name of the
grape-smelling flowers.
Copyright © 2001 by Karen Thompson