She’s a bright splatter
of golden petalled bloom
anchored in earth
with her many faces
in a single head.
Her roots absorb toxins
from the flowerbed
as she worships the sun,
tracking its movement
across the sky
with the loyalty
of a lover’s eye.
Kim M. Russell, 15th July 2019

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Quadrille: Sun, also linked to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Tuesday Platform
Grace is our host for the opening of the dVerse Pub after the two-week break. It’s also our eighth anniversary and the word is ‘sun’, which was inspired by the artwork at the Montreal Fine Arts Museum, ‘The Sun’ by Dale Chihuly. Grace says to make our quadrilles sunny, filled with sunshine or sunflowers or disunited by sunken treasures – as long as the word ‘sun’ is there in 44 words.
Nice! A very sunny poem indeed. A lovely poem for a sunflower.
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Thanks Toni!
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I specially love: She’s a bright splatter
of golden petalled bloom
A bright sunflower of a poem this is Kim. Thank you and hope all is well.
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Thank you, Grace. I’m still recovering from marking exams and currently concerned that little Mojo (the youngest of our two cats) hasn’t come home yet – and my husband is away until tomorrow. However, I am looking forward to going to my daughter’s on Friday to spend a couple of days with her and Lucas – I might also get a peek at their new house, which they won’t be moving into until September.
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I love all of this, but these words especially:
tracking its movement
across the sky
with the loyalty
of a lover’s eye.
Brilliant Kim!
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Thanks so much, Linda!
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I just knew this was going to be about a sunflower right near the beginning. They make me happy–as does your poem!
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Thank you, Victoria! I haven’t spotted our local sunflower field yet – it moves every year!
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We have them all over the neighborhood, but they are just beginning to smile at us. A very late summer here in Reno.
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Sunflowers always make me think of my fourth. Sunflowers are her favourite flowers. It wasn’t until we came to live here that she’d seen a whole field of them—she was gobsmacked.
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Together with tulips, they’re my favourite too. There’s always a field of sunflowers just outside our vilkage. They move it every year and I haven’t seen it yet.
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I haven’t seen any round here this year, but there will be a field of them tucked away somewhere.
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Wonderful vision of a sunflower Kim. “…with the loyalty of a lover’s eye.”
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Thank you, Rov. I’ll be back in the morning to read your quadrille.
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This is a delicious tribute, almost an ode to the regal sunflower. I love them too. My neighbor’s grow them. They always remind me of a huge hybrid golden dandelion.
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They are the boldest of flowers, I think, and so friendly!
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ode to a sunflower and all the joy of an open face that faithfully follows the sun – beautifully construed
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Thank you, Laura.
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steady sun worshipper who heals the soil. wonderful tribute poem and i love that photo
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Thank you, Jade.
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You are very welcome, Kim. They grow up around here on their own, strays from the bird feeder or that get planted by chipmunks. This year I planted “mammoth” variety with free seeds from the seed bank at the library.
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Very cool poem.
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Thank you.
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Charming piece, Kim.
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Thank you.
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I like the reminder in this line: “Her roots absorb toxins”
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Sunflowers are so good for the environment.
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None more loyal than the sunflower, for sure!
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Thanks Bev!
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Beautiful Kim! I love sunflower both big and little. The birds tend to plant them around my feeder!
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Thank you, Dwight! Seeds don’t take in our garden as it is too damp but we have plenty of trees and weeds!
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An enjoyable read. 🙂
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Thank you 🙂
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It is fitting that a sunflower be sun worshipper😄
much❤🕊❤love
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Thank you, Gillena! 😉
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Beautiful! I love sunflowers 🙂
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Thank you, Shake 🌻
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Loved those last two lines!
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Thank you!
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Beautiful, Kim!
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Thank you, VJ.!
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My pleasure!
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I was just gifted with artwork from my son… a sunflower and a real sunflower in a vase he made. I adore them, and he wants to plant sunflower seeds in the ground. Your description is spot on.
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I love these coincidences and the way a sunflower can bring such joy.
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Soul of A FLoWeR Seed
Sun FLoWeR Spiral
Above So Below
Crucible Fire of Star Death
Birth Gaseous Dust Star Stuff
Cosmos Unto Itself Our Sun too
Resurrecting Now Light We Live
A Seed A FLoWeR Sun Just Waiting
To Explode Crucible Fire More Love
Yet Waiting to Be Born Again Perhaps
So Much Greater Now
Than Us to
Heal
AN EartH
iNStead of Visiting
A Moon Again for Rocks..:)
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I’d like both – sunflowers and the moon.
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Yes Moon
Will be anything
Even Cheesy Romance..;)
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🙂
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😁
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Beautiful — it says it all in such a lyrical manner, almost like a prayer unto itself. “the loyalty/of a lover’s eye” is just perfect!
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Thank you so much, Anmol!
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Beautiful!
I love sunflowers.
Goats also love sunflowers.
I once watched a goat stretch its neck outside a fence and its tongue well out of its mouth in order to pull in and chew up a sunflower. Amazing creatures, goats.
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Thanks Cie! I love goats!
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I love sunflowers and for me – a sunflower field is one of the most uplifting sights!!!
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I agree!
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I like, Kim. Lovers’ eyes seldom wander. I would like to post some quadrille poems. In the states some farmers plant whole fields with sunflowers. But half the comments you get would do me in. Mine would be a Nebraska Golden Rod though.
..
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“She’s a bright splatter of golden petalled bloom anchored in earth,”…Wow!! ❤️ What a gorgeous, gorgeous sunflower definition, Kim! 😀
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Thank you Sanaa!😊🌻
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A beautiful tribute to this gorgeous, giving flower Kim xxx
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Thank you, Xenia! xxx
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Ode to the sunflower! I love it. I especially like the subtle rhyming.
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Thank you, Linda.
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Seeing a sunflower in full bloom is one of the joys of high summer. I love those jolly flowers. You really captured the essence of these bright blooms in this piece.
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Thank you, Rommy.
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A lovely poem in praise of sunflowers. I like the lines in particular about tracking the sun.
We may go to a sunflower festival this weekend–but it’s going to be about 100 F–so not sure. . .
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Thank you, Merril. Enjoy the festival – try to find shade u see some giant sunflowers. 🌻🌻🌻
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A lovely write! To me this could be a sunflower or a woman.
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Thank you, Crystal. Sunflowers are confident women – or vice versa!
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Beautifully written about my favorite flower!
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Thanks Sara!
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