“The artichoke with a tender heart
dressed up like a warrior
standing at attention” claims to be
one of the world’s oldest foods.
It could be the oddest bud in the bin.

Kin to the thistle and the sunflower
it raises a fist perhaps in defiance
or as a way of saying, “I am here!”

If left to bloom this “armed
vegetable” becomes a flower
turns from “the green of luna
moth wings” to the violet blue
of a passion flower.

Unlike the heartless onion
when peeled reveals nothing
the artichoke peeled reveals
the plump edible muchness
of a young green heart.