La Flor de Metal/Buenos Aires

Outside the Museo de Bellas Artes,
on the pampas-size lawn there is a single flower.

giant man made petals.
The heart of the flower
exposed to politics and acts of God,
the petals reaching for the sky.

Enormous, red.
Tiny lights
along the edges
for night.
Seen from the shoulder of a 767
or the back of a taxi,
It sparkles.

According to the back of the postcard
it is able to open and close every day,
with the rising and setting of the sun.
My guide tells me it has opened and closed
only once,
on the day it was made.

It's stuck.
Open.