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These are no knickers, Dutch or otherwise,

but a yellowed tooth the bumblebee drills for nectar

with her long strong tongue.

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Where some see underwear, others —
judging from the common names — see hats,
white hearts or earrings, even butterfly collections.

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It’s useful to know what you’re looking at.
Some wasps have learned how to steal nectar
by chewing a hole at the top,
where the Dutchman’s foot would go
into the breech.

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I once spotted a white crab spider
hanging from the end of the line
like one more flower,
waiting for an undiscriminating drinker,
the trap of its legs set.

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The Menominee used to use it as a love charm,
lie in wait for their crushes & try to hit them
with a well-aimed white heart.

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Staggerweed, the old-time farmers called it,
for what the lacy gray-green leaves
could do to a cow.