A Bad Day in June

by Jon Taylor / June 26th, 2016

Adder’s tongue
and adder’s mouth
spiderwort, lousewort
and viper’s bugloss

Toad flax
and frog orchid
green dragon, dragon’s mouth
and lizard’s tail

Why do we name
our rare and elegant flowers
after reptiles and insects?
why do we call them

Snakeroot
and creeping and downy
dwarf and giant
rattlesnake plantains?

Jon Taylor lives in Nashville, TN. He can be reached at taylor.jon440@gmail.com. Read other articles by Jon.

This article was posted on Sunday, June 26th, 2016 at 8:01am and is filed under Poetry.