More on the Epiphyllum

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…B&E

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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.