Location: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Humans gotta lot to say about me.
Say my aroma is “rotting flesh”
complain I “only” bloom
48 hours max. The disrespect!
Splendorous me
belly rich burgundy,
petals flare jade
green gradient key
lime to Elphaba emerald.
I am the largest unbranched
inflorescence among plants
rainforest royalty.
Yet I’m met by rude
alyssum, selifes
upturned noses
called finicky,
gross & engross.
A little harsh, no?
I know I mell better than
fresh waffle cones
pink plumerias,
milk buns, sesame oil,
nuts4nuts street carts,
outdoing every overrated rose
that ever was. For sure
superior to summertime
homosapien funk.
Or that “fresh linen”
yankee candle sitting by
those mildewy IKEA towels.
Indonesian limestone hills
are my hometown.
In The Sumatra Forest
remains under 1,000
of my fragrant kind.
Hubristic humans
logged, reduced our home
into nasty oil palm farms
profiting off our burial ground
I live inside this manicured garden
reliant on carbon footprints for water
where tourists presume
I don’t understand their yap
but I am a polyglot,
living liminal, cantik.
People flock to view me
international masterpiece.
So hold your pity.
I stay magnanimous,
moored, mystique,
magnifique, mariposa.
I take my time blooming.
Colossal 15 feet
leaves yawn, glancing
down at you & your aglow
bricks—you could never.
Emdash AKA Emily Lu Gao (高璐璐) is a poet, artist, and daughter of Chinese immigrants. She writes to heal, grow, and decolonize. Until January 2026, her poem installation “Letter B” is on view at The Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles as part of the (Be)Spoken Poetry exhibit. She believes in poetry’s power to buoy humanity and build community. For two years she produced, hosted, and curated The Word Bookstore Open Mic in Jersey City, NJ. (For publication and performance history: emdashsays.com.) They’ve received funding from Sundress Publications, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference, Jersey City Arts Council and more. She has an BA in Asian American Studies from Pitzer College and a MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University-Newark. They are Missouri-born, California-raised and based in anxiety. Free Palestine.