10-1/4" square
Ink drawing printed over watercolor

Orchid Pollination V

But what of pollen in neglected stores;
That waits unused until it rots with age.
What if, in spite of beauty, fraud, and force,
All winged transport is indefinitely delayed.
They may be grounded or the system’s down,
A cold snap, teamster strike, insecticide,
Or, more likely, my rootless half has found
A prettier garden, more diversified.
This wallflower, having for a million years
Into a happy co-dependence grown
Must stifle ethics if it volunteers
An inside trade, and, just this once, it clones.
So here I stand; I’m poised upon the brink,
My life almost extinguished. My line — extinct?