WHEN FLOWERS SING

An eclectic poetry anthology using flowers as both subject and muse.

Curators Isobel and Blyth (Isobel also edited the collection) set a clear intention in their epigraph: these poems aim to “deepen our experience of flowers, deepen our inner life, and deepen our connections to the earth.” Their selected poems succeed on all three fronts. After an initial section (“Blossoming”) devoted to general reflections on flowers, the poems are organized into loose categories. Some are focused on particular flowers (“Roses”; “Peonies”), while others tackle concepts like wilting, autumn, and weeds. There is a diverse display of different forms throughout, from wide-ranging prose poems to haikus, focused imagistic poems, and conversational freeform verses. Divyanka Sharma, in “Flowers in Bloom,” finds solace in a single bouquet brought home: “Hope held between petals of mortal beauty. / Just a moment of delight / In a world gone to hell, where friends fight / Grand world events unspool...” Several poets compare flowers to lovers and partners, as in Tova Greene’s lovely “Lavender on My Forehead on Ash Wednesday”: “my nose is cold with winter / but my chest is full of springtime. I / realize now why you’re so easy to love: / you’re the cherry blossoms in union / square…” Other poets offer more astringent comparisons, as in the opening lines of Ella Shively’s “Love, Decaying”: “You brought me a bouquet of chemically-preserved carnations on our / first date. I kept them until they crumbled. In my journal, I sketched / the stages of decay. Curling leaves, fading petals, softening stems.” Despite the predictable repetition of themes—there is a lot of springing, blossoming, and wilting alongside major life events—each page presents something of value; a line worth underlining, a thought worth contemplating. The anthology helpfully includes a roll-call of its contributors, presenting brief bios and pointing readers to where to find more of their work online or in print.

A varied and winning bouquet of personal poems.