THE HAIKU
blood droplets
in empty fields
poppies populate
POPPIES
The poem.
They plotted the past year in cells where
no light could penetrate.
Now they've arrived, spreading over the free fields
with a shocking ugly beauty that will seduce
then hypnotize.
What you mistake for stamens are antennas
turned to frequencies beyond understanding --
why do poppies sprinkle our tender earth
with droplets of blood?
Where do they come from? Underground first
but now dangerous, advancing, leaving
vast, red emptiness in our parks and fields--
picked poppies in a vase don't last one day.
Marjon van Bruggen.
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Author Notes
Some time ago I read in an article about terrorism (don't ask me the name of that article, I am sorry, but I forgot) that terrorists sometimes are referred to as poppies.
I thought of the vivid, lovely real poppies and started fantasizing. I first wrote a haiku, and later also a poem, to work out the theme a bit more.
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