As part of Poetry Day Ireland 2025, twelve poems have been selected following a national call out to respond to this year's theme, May Day - read Duplex by Stuart Barnes below.
Duplex
Cleft phlox (Phlox bifida)
In spring I fly open and burn pale purple,
petal-edges curving like C clef.
Curve over pebbles, my little C clef
I sing to the skipper (which flocks, which flocks),
icing for the skipper (Which phlox? Which phlox?),
explosion for root rot, powdery mildew.
My taproot powders erosion's eye. Still, you
log and you crop and you dam and you mine.
You log and you crop———I damn you to mine
my oval emerald almanac.
My emeralds go across fall———the knack
outrages you like the cocklebur’s sting.
I’m outrageously bright and bursting
to fly open in spring and burn pale purple.
(Note: Cleft phlox is native to the USA, so I’ve used 'fall’, not ‘autumn’, in the poem’s eleventh line)
First published in Modron Magazine, 2024
Poetry Day Ireland 2025 will take place on Thursday, 1st May - find out more here.
