Three Ways Of Looking At Wild Poppies

1.

Every field of wild poppies

is an experiment to test

the limits of desire:

Too much and they erupt

in flamenco-red.

Too little and their seed-rattles

self-combust into nothingness.

2.

I passed a wild poppy with leaves

like moth-worn stockings,

punctured by an army

of unseen mouths hungry

for desire. The chrysalises

will gestate, turn red

with all the consumed juices.

3.

A lone scarecrow 

is swarmed by wild poppies.

Their wildfire of desire 

is enough to make it dizzy 

to the point of collapse.

Crows flash a hint of red

after pecking at its bones.