The Maynard
Spring 2015

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Yellow Flowers

Helianthus

This September on the southside of the city
in the dirt between old pasture and strip mall

a cacophony of yellow flowers open
brilliant lemon-gold gleaming in sunlight
filling the vacant lot beside the rodeo grounds

Here a hand-painted sign
          for the Shrine circus

Here where I last saw my father turn in and park

a year ago today he drove out into the world
to shake hands and smile beside elephants and camels
trapeze artists and bellowing men with big mustaches
collecting circus tickets at the gate to the big tent

I had forgotten about yellow.
Forgotten cream, autumn aspen
the brass sheen on a cresting wave—

wildflowers flourish in the disturbed earth
Maximilian daisies butter every ditch
hoary aster purples the abandoned lot
          blooming beside bulldozers

here where

I last saw my father turn in and park

that sunflower          in final bloom