Ask, Don't Tell

One of my favorite forms, the Mondo, has 2 stanzas of 3 lines, the first asking a question, and the second answering it, for example:

Young Dreams

O, beloved son

plucking a dandelion;

how will you find life’s flavor?

Learn to savor both

sunny blooms and bitter greens

whose seeds must scatter like dreams.

Writers are told to 'Show, don't tell.'  Sometimes, I like to leave a question hanging, in essence, 'Ask, don't tell.'  I think it leaves the resolution in the imagination of the reader, and  deepens the experience for them.  

This poem does not have a ‘formal’ form.  I have been playing with 2 question phrases – ‘Do cornflowers get the blues?’ and ‘Do tulips long for deep summer kisses?’ playing with personification and puns.  I expanded the florigelium (isn’t that a wonderful word?) and sequenced them seasonally.  The last stanza is a nod to the wild fires all over the west.

The Secret Lives of Flowers

When honeybees are sated

and pregnant wishes burst forth,

do dandelions roar in triumph?

When the hyacinth fades

and daffodils hang their heads,

do tulips long for deep summer kisses?

When petals curl, anthers darken

and stigmas drip their honey,

Do lilies mourn their virtue?

When shade forbids bloom

and leaves wilt on spindly stems,

do forget-me-nots fear dementia?

When ash fills the sky

and the sun burns like a blood orange,

do sunflowers pray for rain?