Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium)
It wasn’t there yesterday. Feverfew,
feverfew poking up between lilacs
past blooming, next to rhododendron,
under kousa dogwood, bowing
over hostas. Like fairy lights,
baby daisies, constellations, weeds.
I leave my house & they are all around me.
They do not take my breath away.
They are kitchen-garden pretty.
But oh their secrets! – Under gingham dresses
pungent leaves cure fever, anxiety,
depression. Like the note your grandmother
left in a greasy margin that changes your life.
Names: Feverfew, featherfew, federfoy,
featherfoil, febrifuge, flirtwort, bachelor's button.
Vetter-voo, feather-fully, feddygen fenyw, flirtroot,
Mother herb, mutterkraut, Tanacetum parthenium.
Tanacetum, from botanical latin: immortality.
Tanaceta, or tansy, tucked into death shrouds
to keep rats from our corpses. Parthenium,
from the Greek παρθένος (parthenos), virgin.
Immortal virgin, Diana of my kitchen garden,
empowered, fecund – this tiny flower
next to blousier Aphrodites, loving
our papercut, our nosebleed,
our dirt-path commonplace death.
Sara Eddy’s second full-length poetry collection, How to Wash a Rabbit, is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press. Read more.