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Pansies
by
Scott Owens


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One has to wonder where they got
their reputation for pansiness.
Purple and proud, or any color
you might imagine, they grow
where they want to grow, despite the cold,
so much unlike their flashy cousins,
impatiens, petunias, scarlet sage,
petals falling off at first frost,
hardly hearty at all.
Keep your prima donna blossoms,
loud and boastful annuals, brief
and seedless. I'll take the pansies
of the world, unassuming, resilient,
quietly doing what they know to do.

© by Scott Owens.
Used with the author's permission.



Scott Owens is the author of 20 collections of poetry and the recipient of numerous awards. Professor of Poetry at Lenoir Rhyne University and former editor of two poetry journals, he is the founder of Poetry Hickory, a monthly reading series. Scott's newest collection is ‘Round Here: Images from and Near Catawba County. He lives in Hickory, North Carolina, where he owns and operates Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse and Gallery.Learn more about Scott here.

              


 


Post New Comment:
Sarah Prince:
When my mother died in 1990 I was so bereft as we are when our mothers go. She was very fond of pansies and the color yellow. I was living in MD at the time but am a native of MA used to everything dying in hard freezes. That winter I noticed a yellow bloom peeking out of fallen leaves at the corner of my garden border. It was a pansy and it continued to greet me all winter lifting my spirit out of sadness.
Posted 11/30/2012 03:40 AM
twinkscat:
I like the analogy..wonderful way to support the underdog.
Posted 11/26/2012 07:57 PM
peninsulapoet:
A lovely poem and a good plan, to live one's life as a resilient flower.
Posted 11/26/2012 10:34 AM
KevinArnold:
It's about time to give pansies their due. Bravo!
Posted 11/26/2012 08:23 AM
phebe.davidson@gmail.com:
An admirable sentiment, this! And an admirable poem.
Posted 11/26/2012 06:15 AM


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