I posted this photo the other day, when the first of the Epiphyllum flowers bloomed. Yesterday, I watched a bee drench herself in pollen till she could hardly fly…
That little gold lump is the pollen pouch on her leg–almost as big as she is and one on each side!
Then I wrote this, which I’ll probably regret posting in its unedited state, but…
Epiphyllum
From squat slabs of cactus flesh
they flame up:
crimson tinged with fuchsia,
these giant
scentless
siren calls,
filigreed with pollen.
Even I
want in.
As for the bee,
she can’t get enough,
her back legs
so doused
with pollen
she drops straight down
before she can
struggle back up
and fly.