Out on the 16th of Sept,
for days look-out I’ve kept,
for the first shirley poppy flower.
Its four red-pink petals
are white-tipped
and at their bases
is formed a white-tipped black cross
that is largely hidden
by bushy black, yellow-pollen-bearing anthers
surrounding a projecting,
pale yellow, clockface-like pistil
below which will swell the poppy’s capsule.
I got to it before the bees,
to perfect it
miming ‘cheese’.
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