Fling of Petals
Speculative Poetry, SonnetEye to the Telescope is a regular online publication specialized in Speculative Poetry, that is poetry within the literary genres of science-fiction, fantasy, and its kin. In 2017, I found a call by them on the topic of "Evolving Gender".
So I decided to go into the topic of what gender would even mean in a world where body modification becomes so advanced, people end up with completely different systems of identity then they do now. So I imagined a future where due to some bio-engineering fashion men are now growing flowers and women are basically insects and what it means when flowers have a set time for blooming while insects are always being insects. It's an exercise in how weird the future can get while still being considered normal to those living in it — my favorite kind of thought experiment.
In order to have a structure to fill, I made it a sonnet. A weirdly traditional form for its content, but that really is all the reason there is to it. I only grew more comfortable with free form poetry later.
The editor of the issue, Sandra J. Lindow, wrote in her acceptance letter she thought the poem had a very important and interesting message. Which is a great thing to hear, but I have ever since wondered what that message she saw in it was. I hope it is indeeed a good one.
This was my first published poem. It was honestly a surprise to me it got published, but I'm glad, as it gave me the courage to try my hand at poetry again in the future, unlocking a completely new creative outlet for me.
October 2017
