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Jewelweed

Jewelweed:
Poetry by Judith Mansour

from Light Enters the Grove: Exploring Cuyahoga Valley National Park through Poetry

 

Jewelweed

 

Beneath the Bloom

Jewelweed
Oxymoron of sorts
Kind of like, you’re pretty
For a foreign girl, they said
When you’re not even foreign
Or maybe you are but what does that matter
The thing with weeds is that they are not foreign
Indigenous
They just crop up
Like the convenience store your dad never had
Was accused of owning
‘Cause he drove a Cadillac
Had olive skin
The thing with weeds is that
They’re healers, sometimes
Hidden kindness
Jewelweed soothes
The relentless itch of poison ivy
Scratched so much that the skin breaks open
Starts to bleed
Generous in sap, zaps the pain
Like a hug from your mom when
Your third grade teacher called you a dirty Syrian
But you weren’t dirty or Syrian
The parks and the woods
Where you’re encouraged to hike
The scenic trails
Pretty with plants and vines and brush
That you cannot pick or pluck or take
For fear of fines, steep and harsh
The cost of living without knowing the rules
Refined flora, not mixed, cross pollinated
But all you saw was a tangle of green
With magnificent petals, buzzing with bees
Jewelweed is fine to satisfy an itch
After slumming in the woods
A shoulder to cry on, as it were
But you’re not to be kept, brought home
In a crystal vase, a bouquet, God forbid
With that luscious bloom
That makes boys chase girls they won’t love for real
Impatiens capensis
Irresistible nectar
Hummingbirds, butterflies
Lured, seduced by their exotic flesh
But we know better
The Spotted Touch-Me-Not
Is a weed
Invasive, intrusive
Assuming too much

 
Jewelweed, Impatiens capensis

 

 

Light Enters the Grove: Exploring Cuyahoga Valley National Park through PoetryThis excerpt was originally published in Light Enters the Grove: Exploring Cuyahoga Valley National Park through Poetry, edited by Charles Malone, Carrie George, and Jason Harris (Kent State University Press, 2024). It is reprinted with permission of the press.

A literary hike through Ohio’s oldest national park. An anthology celebrating the biodiversity and staggering beauty of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Light Enters the Grove collects 80 poems, each of which reflects its author’s unique connection to a living organism found within the park—ranging from white-tailed deer to brown bats and from Japanese honeysuckle to bloodroot. Additionally, each poem is paired with an artistic depiction of the poem’s subject that reinforces the rich relationship between artists and the natural world.

Learn more and purchase the book.

Judith MansourJudith Mansour has worked as editor and associate publisher for Northern Ohio Live Magazine, contributing editor for angle magazine, and publisher for Fresh Water Cleveland. During her tenure as executive director of the LIT: Cleveland’s Literary Center, she and art director Tim Lachina created MUSE, a magazine that focused on the interplay of words and images. In 2022 Mansour published her first full-length collection of prose and poetry, Kan Zaman, with Crisis Chronicles Press. Her life is ruled by love of her family, words, food, and a pack of unruly cats.

Header image, Jewelweed, by Each+Every, courtesy Kent State University Press.