New Post! Publication Award Winner, Learning to Cope Poetry Prize

A Blooming Scandal

Forget-me-nots grow in her pubic hair

the gossips say, and one man surely knows —

her gamekeeper who plants his seeds down there,

the man who calls her labia his rose.

Lord Chatterley must know, we all suppose

with all the talk about the trysting pair

that hidden by his bored wife’s underclothes,

forget-me-nots grow in her pubic hair.

Most women of her station would not dare

face condemnation that her class bestows, 

but Lady Chatterley has not a care

the gossips say, and one man surely knows.

When not protecting pheasant chicks from crows

or catching pesky weasels in his snare,

he kisses Constance from her head to toes,

her gamekeeper who plants his seeds down there.

And though her reputation’s past repair,

her carnal self is radiant and glows

thanks to her partner in this wild affair —

the man who calls her labia his rose.

Their scandal lives in poetry and prose,

so moralists and censors should beware,

since gossip spreads like fire, and I propose

the thought that it will live as long as they’re

forget-me-nots.

Joan Wiese Johannes’ poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals, and her fourth chapbook, He Thought the Periodic Table Was a Portrait of God, was published by Finishing Line Press. Its title poem won the Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest, and she has also won the Triad and Trophy Poem contests sponsored by Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. She co-edited the 2012 Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets’ Calendar with her husband Jeffrey and enjoys collaborating with him on projects, including a crown of sonnets, Happily After After, with his illustrations. Joan agrees with the stage manager in "Our Town," who mused that only poets and saints truly appreciate life while living it. Although not a candidate for sainthood, she enjoys a good life with her husband in Port Edwards, Wisconsin.