Chinese Hibiscus
By Hannah Lowe
Also known as hawaiian hibiscus, rose mallow, and hibiscus rosa-sinensis
Or call it black shoe or call it china rose—
commonly steeped for cough, bronchitis, fever.
I see her lifting petals to her nose,
inhaling, testing. Who will she make better
with these little tongues? I hear them crying
when she pours the boiling water on.
I hear her humming—what medicine
can’t be made more potent with a song?
Once I wrote the strong scent of hibiscus
in a poem, not knowing that the flower
had no smell. At a reading, a man, a stranger,
told me off. But how to justify
a poem as a jar of truth and lie,
as telescope and magnifying glass?
commonly steeped for cough, bronchitis, fever.
I see her lifting petals to her nose,
inhaling, testing. Who will she make better
with these little tongues? I hear them crying
when she pours the boiling water on.
I hear her humming—what medicine
can’t be made more potent with a song?
Once I wrote the strong scent of hibiscus
in a poem, not knowing that the flower
had no smell. At a reading, a man, a stranger,
told me off. But how to justify
a poem as a jar of truth and lie,
as telescope and magnifying glass?
Source: Poetry (October 2025)