Angel Trumpets
At sunset,
they flaunt
their dresses of
orange satin and
crimson silks
and hide their
poisonous
purses.
Swaying
coyly,
they flare
their flamenco hems
and scent
the air with
longing and
danger.
When I first encountered angel trumpets in Costa Rica, I was fascinated by their beauty. Only later did I find out that they are poisonous and so this poem evolved from there.
The Beauty Along the Road 
Your photo is crisp and striking!
I love the blooms of Angel’s Trumpets and I have two of them in my yard. But did you know that they are very poisonous to honeybees (I am a beekeeper.)? I’m not sure if the honey bees avoid them instinctively because of that though (something else to learn).
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No, I did not know that angel trumpets are poisonous to bees. I saw and photographed them at a butterfly sanctuary in Costa Rica. It must not affect the butterflies then? My place is too cold for angel trumpets, unfortunately. Thanks for stopping by.
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beautiful shot of the Datura flowers. I think it’s something of a misnomer that they should be called Angels’ trumpets since they are poisonous. I love your poem too.
Carol aka Traveller
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Maybe they are called angel trumpets because you may meet the angels if you aren’t careful around the flowers? I find them very beautiful and enticing and that’s how the poem evolved. Thanks for stopping by.
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aloha Annette – you have a great visual sense. i like the way you see in your photographs.
i see how ekphastica relates to haiga altho they are clearly different forms. which is cool. in ekphrastica, when responding to an image, is it always in a poetic form? or can it be prose as well? (i responded to your comment on my “in blog” page with a little more explanation about haiga so i wont go into that here).
i remember discovering these trumpet blossoms for the first time in Ecuador. i was told they were used in some indigenous religious ceremonies because they were hallucinogenic. altho they were dangerous because an over dose could be lethal. i’ve now seen them in other places including here in Hawaii as well. these are a beautiful color, most i’ve seen are more yellow. altho i may remember something about the colors having slightly different properties.
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Hi Rick – thanks for visiting. In response to your Q about Ekphrastica – it doesn’t always have to be poetry, it can also be prose. And the visual image can be a photo, a painting, a sculpture, even a movie!
I have seen Angel trumpets in white, yellow and pink. I used photoshop to overstate the pink and turn it into more of the passionate red in my image. Red attracts way more attention than pink, and helps to emphasize that allure/poison contrast these flowers hold.
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Beautiful, and uncannily similar to my sunset skirts 🙂 this was published before I had discovered your blog….so it reminds me to find some time to look back through older posts in the blogs I love.
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I think it speaks to archetypes roaming the earth 🙂
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