2000/2ndqtr/tramples

At The Ranunculus Fields

Everyone tramples the blooms
for a photo op.
They seem to prefer burying
themselves in the red ones,
mothers encouraging their children
to break rules.
I blame it on Gedes, or want to.
All over the fields four-foot swaths
are flattened to the ground.
It’s curious they come to see the flowers
but don’t care a whit about killing them.
It’s a quantity thing,
the American penchant for bulk.
Individual plants can easily be sacrificed.
I’m sure the loss is factored in,
though someone drives about
scooting people out.
It is our consumptive mentality
that squanders life,
and settles for a picture of it.

4/10/00