*
at the last open flower market in LA,
at the peak of the pandemic,
a photographer buys dozens of flowers —
lilies, roses, carnations, freesia —
to document their slow entropic unblossoming
which is another way to say death,
as days turned into weeks and weeks into
you know how the rest of this story goes
*
senescence: not to bloom
flower open unfold
develop mature
but fade
not to progress
evolve flourish thrive
prosper burgeon
but decline
*
To extend the life of cut flowers,
add sugar salt copper pennies vinegar aspirin bleach
*
There is nothing living which does not breathe nor anything breathing which does not live.
*
When does the body leave the room?
When does the person, the being, leave
the body? Why does the body persist,
and why do we sanction its persistence?
When my brain shuts down,
have I left my body? When I fall asleep,
have I left my body? Where
did I leave it? Where does the brain go
when the body is at rest?
*
While still in the womb, the lungs grow like a tree from a bud, with branches sprouting from left and right trunks.
*
Did you wait too long to quit smoking?
Was that asbestos wrapped around the furnace pipes?
Did you grow up on a farm, inhaling with pleasure
late summer air hazy with particulate matter
while your father harvested grain?
*
Church in regards to the no-property theory, the dead body
was under the control of the
Corpse The term synonymous to a dead body is
Common Law the major source of mortuary law is
Cadaver A dead human body used for anatomical study is a
Decomposition The most positive sign of death is
Decent Burial The law states that every person has a right to a
Mutilation Embalming is a form of
Quasi-property A dead human body is said to be
Dead human body is not property in a real sense
Surviving Spouse As a rule, the right of decent disposal belongs to the
*
did you actually mean unblushing or unpleasing?
*
A cut flower cannot take on nutrients
so it slowly begins to die, though putting it in water
can lengthen its life. Disturbing the flow of water
shortens life. Cutting flowers in the air
instead of under water
may produce bubbles.
Bent neck.
Quick wilt.
*
Aren’t we all going to die of something? Well?
KateLynn Hibbard’s books are Sleeping Upside Down, Sweet Weight, and Simples, winner of the 2018 Howling Bird Press Poetry Prize. Some journals where her poems have appeared include Barrow Street, Ars Medica, Nimrod, and Prairie Schooner. Editor of When We Become Weavers: Queer Female Poets on the Midwest Experience, she teaches at Minneapolis College, sings with One Voice Mixed Chorus, and lives with many pets and her spouse Jan in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Please visit katelynnhibbard.com for more information