Cobblestone mortar holds my corners fast
Frost etches veins on pulp like leaf at last
Taxonomy lost to salt and tire tread
Dormant genus waits in frozen bed
Vernalization requires this chill
Rootless I photosynthesize still
No chloroplasts just cyanotype blue
Waiting for a stamp that never flew
I am a postcard pressed in winter's herbarium
Specimen of greetings dormant premium
No soil required just cobblestone and time
Cold stratification makes the message prime
Boot heels crush my margins into dust
Lichen colonizes where the ink once rust
Mossy sporophytes rise on gummed reverse
Sporangia crack where address lines converse
Vernalization requires this chill
Rootless I photosynthesize still
No chloroplasts just cyanotype blue
Waiting for a stamp that never flew
I am a postcard pressed in winter's herbarium
Specimen of greetings dormant premium
No soil required just cobblestone and time
Cold stratification makes the message prime
January wind reads Latin on my face
Quercus robur etched in frozen grace
Ephemeral as petals paper thins
Herbarium sheet where winter begins
Spring will lift the frost from mortar joints
Germination cracks the paper points
Ink turns chlorophyll green and legible
Message flowers finally visible
I am a postcard pressed in winter's herbarium
Specimen of greetings dormant premium
No soil required just cobblestone and time
Cold stratification makes the message prime
Thaw releases scent of dried gum arabic
Pollen grains of text no longer static
Wind disperses words to waiting ground
New seedlings sprout where silence once was sound
I am a postcard pressed in winter's herbarium
Specimen of greetings dormant premium
No soil required just cobblestone and time
Cold stratification makes the message prime
Cold stratification complete
Message delivered seed to street
