I found a hike
on a thin note,
tucked inside
an old field guide
to wildflowers.
My grandfather’s cursive list:
violets – yellow
elderberry
oregon grape
skunk cabbage
avalanche lilies
wild currents
(Only one of which
was actually listed
in the field guide)
There was also
a ballpoint pen sketch
of one flower
he could not name
with pointed petals
and a stem of slender leaves.
“Five yellow” it said,
and a “fleshy, round stem”.
I searched the guide
but found nothing
so exact
to his picture.
It may be true
that these notes are
no more than
what they are
and they hold
no secret histories.
They are all I never asked,
And all I never knew.
~ Megan M. Codera
*NaPoWriMo poem prompt for Day 8: flower.
