Robert Ronnow
Ever Maddening Mandala
Rose Pogonia
My son wants a gun to defend his wife
from what he’s seeing on the street—
drug-addled homeless men, altercations
between drunks and drunk drivers,
ambulances chasing fires, hearses
moonlighting as taxicabs, ballots stolen by armed militias.
I found a bog plant—
Rose pogonia—an orchid
hidden in the leatherleaf
underneath two tamaracks.
We kayak to the huckleberries
and watch the whirligig beetles go round and round.
Copyright 2026 Robert Ronnow.