What Sex Are They?
I research the Encyclopedia of the Web
for how to sex marijuana plants.
I find pictures of minute ball sacs
and hairy white pistils the size of gnats.
Outside, with magnifying glass in hand
I stand, spread open fans and spy
with my cyclops/eagle eye
for micro-penis-like protrusions
and frog’s-hair-thin-threads
of trichoblasts on tits as small as tits
on a mouse on plants twice my size.
In fact, I see no sacs at all on 6′ tall stalks
Hey plant what sex are you? I coo,
as I fondle its branches. I think it’s a male,
but can’t tell by the feel of his skin,
yet I can’t stop touching him, her, them.
Compelled to be with them
I’m in the garden more and more.
The might-be-female is beautiful.
I pinch, prune, massage stems
and lick the stick off my fingertips.
I sniff my hands and think how erotic
this obsession with sexing is, loving
two plants of unknown gender.
Winners
Each name belongs to a Thoroughbred race horse who won a race somewhere on June 14, 2014.
Obviously, it is Standard Deal
for someone with a Checkered Past to get
A Wild Notion and have a glass of Malbec
with the Gray Indian while Seeking The Light
in the Alabaster City, resembling
a Thousand Edens, and sit by Moonshine Bay
listen to a Foxy Drummer, watch a Dapper Zapper
do Fire Tricks with Raging Smoke spewing from an Unhindered
mouth while maintaining Assorted Humor, and that someone
may run Out of Patience plead with the Rude Heckler
to Get Happy Mister or a call might be made to the Iron Media
to send out a Fashion Alert and have the Amazons
escort the Rude Heckler to the finish line
even though they got a Bump Start.
The purse for first, More Honey.
Catherine Perkins is semi-retired from active participation in the Thoroughbred industry, although she owns in partnership, Perkins Mackey Stable. Catherine has written most of her life and has poems in print in local (KY) anthologies published by Accents, Workhorse,INC and Acts of Power Press. Her works appear online in Jerry Jazz Musician and her own blog, Poetry Insights . Catherine has a full length manuscript coming out sometime in 2023 (if the creek doesn’t rise and there are no unforeseen surprises).
Pegasus 