Amaryllis Hippeastrum Forms and Ruminations VI

Sun fire washes red into orange yellow

younger buds unfurling red more mellow

rays through glass create sun bubbles

floating in a splash of red yellow petals

fully blown open not a perfect poem

a study of vibrant color and form.

Amaryllis Hippeastrum Forms and Ruminations V

Grand finale bursting trumpets

red flares petals in threes

corolla inner and outer wings

echo sextet in stamen things

filaments rise lines to anthers

pollen dust capsules fertilize

solo sticky stigma hidden notes to life

reside within chambers out of sight

Amaryllis Hippeastrum Forms and Ruminations IV

Parting red buds petals unfurling

separating sepals once green unveiling

dwarf viridescent stems inching high

pushing towards warm light and sky

crown of ruby swollen flower wings

expand on tall jade wand of cellular rings.

Amaryllis Hippeastrum Forms and Ruminations III

Amaryllis within sighs

red tones swelling folds

expanding sepals aside

gently give blossoms way

younger bud blushes

sprout to perfect bloom

Amaryllis Hippeastrum Forms and Ruminations II

Daily growth spurts of Amaryllis

tall green stately stems reaching

inching up towards the sun

buds bursting at sepals seams

give way to fully formed

folded color filled petals.

Amaryllis Hippeastrum Forms and Ruminations

The swelling buds of Amaryllis in the south facing window of my barn studio are inspirational. Just knowing the bulbs need a "dry" period lifts the spirit, for we all go thru droughts but sometimes forget that a new vibrant spurt of creative life could soon follow. Amaryllis contains most everything it needs within itself and if given in proper time the appropriate amounts of water and light it will produce lovely flowers year after year. Here the sepals are gently giving way at the seams revealing an inner bounty of petals. The painter of plant consciousness sends a signal to green to recede, while encouraging sepals and petals to expand, to drink, to inhale red liquid hues through etched veins rising up from a palette hidden deep within its bulbous fleshy container, tucked neatly nearly all below in soft rich black loam inside a painted Moroccan clay pot.