I’VE NEVER TRAVELED to Washington, DC, thus never seen the masses of cherry blossoms. I’m quite certain I would love them. Flowering trees began blooming here about two weeks ago and I can’t get enough of their beauty.
Whether pink or white, the petals add an artistic and poetic touch to the landscape. It’s as if an artist meticulously brushed petals upon a tree. It’s as if a poet wrote lovely words upon apple and ornamental trees, petal by petal.
In poetry, every word counts. In art, every brush stroke matters. On a flowering tree, both create a canopy of loveliness.
I don’t paint. But I create with my camera and with words. I write poetry—poetry which has published on the pages of anthologies and literary journals, inspired artists and a musician, graced signs in public places.
And so I see poetry where others may not. A flowering tree is not simply a tree with flowers. It is a work of literary and visual art. It is a love letter. It is a painting. It is romance. It is a thousand stories. It is more than a tree blushing beauty into the landscape on a spring day.
In residential neighborhoods, in parks and in other spaces, flowering trees bloom poetic verse. Above. And in a carpet of petals upon the ground. I’m inspired to write: Apple blossoms fall/like kisses from their lips/teasing, tempting, tasting/not of promised, forbidden fruit/but of young love blooming.
And so spring seems a time of young love. Of beginnings. Of feeling the heart beat faster.
Yet spring also celebrates the seasoned love of many years, even decades, together. Love that has seen countless springs of flowering trees blushing beauty into the landscape. For my husband, Randy, and me, 44 years of married life marked on May 15.
We walk beneath those trees, petals underfoot representing the poetry of days past and those above of poetry yet unwritten.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
What lovely poetic thoughts you have penned, with a literary comparison below of a flowering tree I would not have thought of. Your images were stunning, with close-up views of spring-flowering trees.
A flowering tree is not simply a tree with flowers. It is a work of literary and visual art. It is a love letter. It is a painting. It is romance. It is a thousand stories. It is more than a tree blushing beauty into the landscape on a spring day.
Thank you, Sue, for appreciating this post. I enjoyed penning it with a poetic spin.
i love flowering trees and love when i can buy branches, this is indeed a lovely picture you have painted here for us with your camera. what a beautiful way to understand that you are an artist in your own right, using your camera as both brush and paint. many congrats to both of you, 44 years, now that is a long-blooming flower in itself, and your final line is beautiful.
Thank you for your sweet words and wishes.
This has been a splendid year for flowering trees here as well. They come in waves, a new lot bursting into flower as the earlier trees set seed. It is so heartwarming to be in the midst of it. On another topic: I feel so moved by your celebration of 44 years. Congratulations!
I’m glad you’re enjoying the flowering trees also. I think the cool days and nights have extended the flowering season in Minnesota. Thank you for the anniversary congrats. Hard to believe it’s been 44 years already.
What beautiful blossoms to be found all around when you take the time to look, Audrey. I’m enjoying the last week of the white lilac in my garden, soon to yield to fragrant roses which are just bursting out. Congratulations to you and Randy on your wedding anniversary. Enjoy the last days of spring and I hope your poetry blooms in every season. I especially love Shakespeare’s sonnet 18, comparing lasting love to the blooming of spring.
I did not know that about Shakespeare’s sonnet, so thank you for sharing that.
And thank you for your anniversary wishes.
I also have never traveled to Washington, DC to see the cherry blossoms, but the pictures I’ve seen are so lovely. Congratulations on your upcoming anniversary!
Thank you for your wishes, dear Rose.