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We can’t always promise you bouquets of flowers, but we can promise you bouquets of poems about flowers. Of course, in the world of poetry, a flower is never just a flower. As Grace Hazard Conkling writes, “It is because I am afraid of my heart / That I write about clouds and flowers…”

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Here are seven of our favorites, picked fresh for you just in time for National Poetry Month:

“Dairy Written on Peony Petals,” Grace Hazard Conkling

“[to make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,]” Emily Dickinson

“Extreme Wisteria,” Lucie Brock-Broido

“Flowers,” John Tranter

“On Flower Wreath Hill,” Kenneth Rexroth

“Flower of Five Blossoms,” Galway Kinnell

“Of Asphodel,” William Carlos Williams

Want more poems? Check out the Poetry Magazine archives on JSTOR.

Want more flowers? JSTOR Global Plants offers digitized plant specimens, including these asphodel.

flowersNational Poetry MonthPoetryThe American Poetry ReviewThe Kenyon ReviewThe Lotus Magazine

Resources

JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. JSTOR Daily readers can access the original research behind our articles for free on JSTOR.

Diary Written on Peony Petals
By: Grace Hazard Conkling
Poetry, Vol. 16, No. 6 (Sep., 1920), pp. 304-308
Poetry Foundation
[To Make a Prairie It Takes a Clover and One Bee,--]
By: Emily Dickinson
The Lotus Magazine, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Apr., 1919), p. 176
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Extreme Wisteria
By: LUCIE BROCK-BROIDO
Poetry, Vol. 201, No. 3, The Q&A Issue (DECEMBER 2012), pp. 312-319
Poetry Foundation
Flowers
By: JOHN TRANTER
Poetry, Vol. 197, No. 3 (DECEMBER 2010), pp. 201-203
Poetry Foundation
On Flower Wreath Hill
By: KENNETH REXROTH
The American Poetry Review, Vol. 5, No. 4 (July/August 1976), pp. 3-4
American Poetry Review
Flower Of Five Blossoms
By: GALWAY KINNELL
The American Poetry Review, Vol. 19, No. 5 (SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1990), pp. 8-9
American Poetry Review
Of Asphodel
By: William Carlos Williams
The Kenyon Review, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Summer, 1955), pp. 371-382
Kenyon College