A rose
named after Queen Elizabeth II.
Decades of reign
held in pink petals and
thorny stems.
A car
named after President Lincoln.
Leadership during the Civil War
and abolition of slavery
captured in V6 engine
and heated leather seats.
A horsefly
named after Beyoncé.
22 Grammy Awards
and human rights activism
embodied in a six-legged,
golden-abdomen Australian pest.
A bra
named after Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
