Zantedeschia, Spathe, Spadix, Anthurium, Philodendron, Tillandsia Cyanea, Etc.
Those flowers, those ones that are not flowers, have weird
Words given for the blooms that are not blooms.
For scientists plain English disappeared
When naming parts like these. In lab-like rooms
The botanists concoct Greek-Latin names
From fusty books for blossoms and for plants.
The odd nomenclature just barely tames
The eccentricity, as if our aunts
Decided they could calm our rampant parts
With taxonomic terms. Our organs are
Like flowers. I’m not speaking now of hearts
But of those bloom-like things that drive us far
To realms unsafe with musks, and scents—and thorns.
I mean romance and lust for spikes and horns.
