Sphaeralcea ambigua
Desert globemallow
Melissa Buckheit
Globe’s Mallow Tale
Once, when there was nothing but ocean,
water and ice,
and the desert was cold and not yet alone,
the Globemallow floated under glass, its globe a terrarium,
imagined as airtight,
cresting upon waves, the bloom preserved
for millennia.
Roadside scrap, scrub, coated with gas
exhaust, its glass landed
in New Mexico, Utah, Nevada,
Southern Colorado, The Sonoran
Basin, what was Mexico. What was
ocean, what was
nothing.
The empty surmounted
the bee. The bee landed
in the fine hairs of the mallow’s leaves,
to begin the orgiastic dance;
legs wrapped around the stamen, both vibrate,
mallow and bee.
Landed and named: Sphaeralcea ambigua
subsp. ambigua, Desert Globemallow
Sphaeralcea incana, Grey Globemallow, Soft Globemallow
Caliche Globemallow, Sore Eye
Mallow, Sphaeralcea laxa, S. ribifolia, Sore
Eye ‘Poppy’, Mal de ojo, Malvia, Apricot Mallow—
orange, Parish Mallow, Rose Mallow—pink, white,
lavender, magenta or red. S. aculeata,
S. rocacea, S. rugosa, Grey-hairy. Plantas
muy malas, vibrational color of the Buddha.
The Globe will soothe you,
crush the leaves to line your shoes
or drink a tea of Creosote and Mallow
for appetite. Use as a poultice, to soothe
bleeding, blisters; the fine hairs of the leaves
will also break the eye into redness. Along roadsides,
old washes, in parking medians, spotting
the deserts.
When the Spanish found
the Globemallow, in what was once
Mexico, they called it not
‘bad plant’ but ‘very
bad plant’. The stellate hairs
like small sabers, the fine thorns of Hedgehog
Cacti, will lodge in the eye,
their wet sap, emollient, drawing
redness. The English
were diplomatic, using Latin names,
scientific with an English designation. They
added ‘Sore Eyes’, for the flower
was no longer evil. The Globe’s Mallow
was only its effect. For
~~~~~
Melissa Buckheit is a poet, dancer, photographer, English Professor and Bodywork Therapist. She is the author of Noctilucent (Shearsman, 2012), and a chapbook, Arc (The Drunken Boat, 2007). Her writing has appeared in nth position, Blue Fifth Review, The Drunken Boat, Sinister Wisdom, Shearsman Magazine, and Sonora Review, among others. She teaches at the University of Arizona and Pima College.