By RAHN ADAMS
Sometimes sideways / is the only sensible way / to see something / that seems tangled and topsy-turvy.
Cosmos are like that — / the gangly flower that grows / everywhere / from open fields to roadside ditches.
The name is Greek / for “ordered world” or “jewel,” / for the regular petals / and the golden, star-shaped florets.
An artist I know / painted some hot pink cosmos once, / but could do it / only by turning the painting on its side.
Order was still there / from the painter’s perspective; / but I had to stand / to one side for the world to make sense.