Eloise Klein Healy, former Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, has encapsulated so much in the two short stanzas of her poem “Iris”. What could at first seem to be a simple poem about an iris blossom in a vase, in fact, touches about love, compassion, bravery, death, and yearning.
Iris There’s always an iris amusing and amazing. Today, wildly purple stretching to search dark colors, open and about to reach. Reach. Even the vase holds on, shows courage for both who touch the beautiful, alive and color to color, evoking how one can love another. Longer to live, shorter to die.
Eloise Klein Healy
Eloise Klein Healy, the author of nine books of poetry, was named the first Poet Laureate of Los Angeles in 2012. She was the founding chair of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Antioch University Los Angeles. Her forthcoming book, A Brilliant Loss, will be published in October 2022.