Sunflowers

a hapless hope

wild sunflowers, photo by Andy Smith

Rising from the broken 
rows of wheat, a field 

of suns crawls into the sky.
Ignorant of hailstorms, they dawn

amongst all the fallen fullness.
And with a star’s self-importance,

they fill it further still with their radiant 
eagerness pushing against each other until

a hapless hope crowds the near horizon.
 
_Written June 10 2026

Spring and early summer are full of wild flowers in central Texas. Wild sunflowers in particular abound in fields, along the sides of roadways, and in pastures that haven’t yet been grazed. I followed the planting of this field of wheat near my office from when it was first planted last fall, before it slowly began to grow overwinter and then took off in the spring. After many big storms throughout the spring, the wheat became unharvestable. And in the disappointment grew the sunflowers.