Denton Loving

Denton Loving is the author of the poetry collections Crimes Against Birds (Main Street Rag) and Tamp (forthcoming April 2023 from Mercer University Press). His writing has appeared widely in journals such as Iron Horse Literary Review, Kenyon Review and The Threepenny Review. www.dentonloving.com

I Am a Small Whorled Pogonia

after Lauren Davis

Some say I reveal myself
only after decade-long gaps.

Others say I’m only legend.
The truth is I—the rarest

of orchids—hide well.
And only the precise light

of a broken forest canopy
can coax me up to unfurl

my five spiral leaves.
The worthy, alone, will find

a way to witness my bloom.
Let botanists explain how

flowers without nectar or scent
still find a way to bear fruit.