Flower for the Day Dahlia I 9-12-25

With the cooling of the weather dahlias have begun to bloom. We have planted more this year and 

are hoping for a bounty. Dahlias are tuberous, herbaceous perennials and are native to Mexico and Central America.

They are members of the aster family. I love them for the richness of their multiple shapes and color.

Dahlias were known only to the Aztecs and other southern North American peoples until the Spanish Conquest after which the plants were brought to Europe. Like most plants that do not attract pollinating insects through scent, they are brightly colored, displaying most hues, with the exception of blue.

      The Dahlias

By now the fields are overgrown,
most ironweed and parsnip have turned black,
even the closed cabinet doors of milkweed pods
have burst open, spilling their shucked silk
into the day. I wear a coat
and remember August, those nights
filled with moths that like fireworks
put on a show at our window,
circled the lights like monks in meditation.
At every new cycle, I miss the one
now gone. I am never happy and have
no excuse not to love the dying
season, the growing season, the season of sleep.
That is to say, to love it while it is
happening. But what of the fall dahlias
that like bodiced planets float above
their roots and leaves? Surely they contain all
the colors of our universe. They must love
the cooler days, the beginning
of a time for rest, less forced display.
Take it easy I will say. But the wind
has something else in mind.
They might perform a roundelay
or the danse macabre. In time
we all will be bones, our eyeholes hallowed
and our skeletons clattering like chimes.

Didi Jackson