A flower, at its heart (the stamens, pistil,
etc.) is a naked woman, about 38, just

out of bed, worth looking at both for
her body and her mind and what she has seen

and done. She it was put me straight
about the city when I said, It

makes me ill to see them run up
a new bridge like that in a few months

and I can’t find time even to get
a book written. They have the power,

that’s all, she replied. That’s what you all
want. If you can’t get it, acknowledge

at least what it is. And they’re not
going to give it to you. Quite right.

from William Carlos Williams, “The Flower”: https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/flower-19