Check out my photograph, Erqi, in GUD Issue 6.

Flowers

Peonies for your rebellion– you would not
Open no matter the power, no matter
Who ordered you;
Eglantine for your small size–
Rose of the bush,unloved by

Commerce and always in bloom;
Red poppies to help you sleep
And remind you to eat;
Zinnias in white for your goodness and
Yellow so you’ll think of me every day apart;

Spider flowers for their petals like legs,
Each ready to run you to me;
Nasturtiums for the victories for you
I see in their yellow petal standards;
Oleander for their overuse
Requires a place in every bouquet written;

Gladioli for the strength that
Earned them their human name and is
Not absent from your mind;
Echinacea for its healing– and spine
Really needed for the healing that you bring;
Acacia for its dense blooms concealing
Love and pollen

These blooms will I
Hand to you
All wrapped in saffron ribbon and
Netting without color

Shape or
Hopelessness.
We will dance together
Each time we win or live

Myanmar poet, Saw Wai, was arrested for writing an acrostic Valentine’s Day poem with an embedded criticism of the military junta: the first word of each line spells out the phrase “Power crazy Senior General Than Shwe”. (To adapt the form to English, I’ve used the first letter of each line in accordance with the idea of Emily Lloyd.)

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