how the cut tulip stands
tall
fistfully defying all that
contains her
beauty opening full as the world
innermost
yellow heart and black thoughts
the weight of
colour
breaking her back
the edge of her
folding
as she bows, wiser
to the world
‘Women, prominent in the field of florists’ pinks, seemed to have little to do with tulips. The Miss Dalton who, at Lancaster Tulip Show on 22 May, 1826, won first and second prizes…was a rarity’. Anna Pavord, 2000, The Tulip: 205-6