6.30 preparing for proposal

Danae racemosa
ilex paragueriensis
nepenthes
tradescantia
cattleya

before luring you
into the pruned and climactically controlled
environments of botannical gardens
i serpent fork tongue the proper names
for placarded surroundings
like poet's laurel and yerbe mate
because i want to know
the world's witnesses.

i familiarize myself with the birds
and the frogs living in doused areas
these zoos for plants
with tissue labs, research nooks
preservastionist tendencies.

when i am standing outside of the glass conservatory
i see the strain, the moisture, the terrarium of plants
rebelling against the windows
brown and green streaks
their breathing.

before i bring you here
i must be certain you would not feel
as those fronds
but more like the magnolias and saw tooth oaks
outside, on the fringe---i would rather you
be as wisteria, kudzu, corn, sunflower, ivy
greening, purpling, yellowing,
ever a vine
ever twining, upturned toward light
tree limb, wall fencepost
a challenge to take over

always reaching more on your own
than with me

(the stories brought back
are richer this way)

here, i think of you
see your face in pitcher plant
wandering jew
orchid
irresistible to me as reds, improbable amyethists
streaks of velvet darkness on plastic-thick tulip stalks.
you are elemental, mineral, water
balance and chemistry to my soil

you have planted shoots in me
gardens of petals and smells
prickles and stems
i can only call love
so much life in the observation of it
my only answer is to offer my own.