greenhouse effect

           after Carsten Höller

At the 54th Carnegie International, Carsten Höller installed his Solandra Greenhouse. Museum visitors entered a glass-walled structure filled with Solandra Maxima (golden chalice vine), a South American plant that exudes pheromones capable of inducing the hallucinatory effects of falling in love.

five-lobed corolla
blooms deepen
to gold with age

a billet-doux
inscribed on hand-pulled paper
the perfume of golden chalice

a car parked in sunlight
radiance of two lovers

a vine trained
to grow upwards
can be trapped

take the form
of a box-like hedge,
left untended

a clumped mass

smothering
the native vegetation

the heart’s desire
sustained inside

transparent walls

what makes the earth
suitable for life

cultivate enough
to feed a starving nation