Kim Roberts

Mountain Laurel

Walking through the park, we come upon
a mountain laurel in heavy bloom.
I’ve always loved those bushes; this one,
growing on a slope, has a twisted, ropey trunk
like an old athlete. We stop to admire the flowers.
White polygons trimmed in pale pink,
with ten filaments arched over its cup.
Lindsey tells me the filaments connect to anthers,
the male parts, which are tucked
into white pockets hidden at the tops of the petals.
Tracey claims I’m obsessed with pockets;
I’m always trying to get my hand inside hers.
At home I read: when a bee lands
on an open flower, its weight releases the filaments
and they fling pollen like catapults,
up to eight miles an hour. That makes
mountain laurels one of the fastest moving
plants ever recorded. The mystery
is why a bee would be attracted
to a flower that produces almost no nectar.
I think it’s the thrill: as petals open, the filaments
pull back, taut as springs.

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Kim Roberts is the author of Q&A for the End of the World, a collaboration with Michael Gushue (WordTech Editions), her seventh book of poems, and two guidebooks, including the forthcoming The District’s Departed: A Guidebook to DC Cemeteries (Rivanna Books, Fall 2026). Roberts co-curates DC Pride Poem-a-Day each June, and co-directs the Pride Poetry Residency at the Arts Club of Washington. Roberts has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Humanities DC, and the DC Commission on the Arts, and has been a writer-in-residence at 20 artist colonies and nonprofits. Read more at kimroberts.org.