Among the geranium, a rash
of purple campanula begins,
scattering like Chinese fireworks
through the delicate tan and yellow tips
of saxifrage, encircling a group of bloody
cranes' bills perched on rock. I want
to name these flowers for you,
a litany of colors that begin where
there is hardly any, only the gentlest
hint of evening-flush at the base
of the throats of narcissus and sweet
william, sharing a bed with verbena.
Deep blue and slightly furry as a concord
grape, the salvia cardinalis burns a wine
color of intense sweetness on my tongue.
We could have a curry laksa with it,
even cheese-perhaps a soft brie or kesong
puti sprinkled with peppercorns, or a whole
clove of roasted garlic to smear on the slightly
dusty surface of a saltine cracker. That
reminds me of my grandmother's room
and the smell of her lavender-water,
distilled from the lavandula angustifolia,
whose spears are so rigid to the touch
and announce themselves with such radiant
distinction. I want to glow like them, a field
of me headier than a bottle of decanted scent,
unblushing as a recitation of the contents
of antique pomanders tied with silk string.
Petals pressed into the cool ivory of journal pages:
delphinium, pasque flowers, linseed and flax; linum
perenne, the soft-hooded acanthus spinosus,
purple phlox, and velvet lupine. Veronica
incana, the powderpuff balls of hesperis
matronalis-- the ones they call sweet
rockets-- clearer than rain, exploding
like breath from the furiously kissed
mouth; like fizzy candy, like eskimo
stars in the milky sky.
-Luisa A. Igloria
In the state of Washington public school students take the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. We gave the assessments three days last week and start again tomorrow for the second week. Depending on the grade level students are tested in reading, math, writing, and science. I have sharpened lots of pencils, proctored without helping or looking over shoulders, and administered the most important things that help my students: lots of encouragement, cinnamon gum ( helps with memory), and water to hydrate the brain. All the tests are untimed so the 7th graders doing a writing prompt tomorrow could take most of the morning. Even though I don't take the test or even know the questions... I am exhausted at the end of every session. Think how my students feel!
