How Love Bush (Vervain) Got Its Name:

She loves me, she loves me not?
How do I known if she really loves me

Some Jamaicans will tell you that the way to find out if your love is true is to tear off a piece of the love bush, toss the plant at a tree and call out the name of your hoped-for lover. If it sticks and grows, true love will flourish.

Youtube Link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyHfZaXWhb0

LOVE BUSH

I tell you from a distance it is all quite beautiful-
this tangling headstrong flower-

you are afraid to ask the obvious question, but you do:
wanting to know what it is like up close?

I explain this bush is really a parasite:
that it needs a host on which to grow.

Oftentimes it takes over and strangles its host-
this most beautiful of Jamaican flowers-

this vine that no one wants in their yard.
I tell you that as a child I picked this strange flower,

threw it on some unsuspecting tree,
whispered the name of my beloved-

waited for the tree to be devoured
as if by a great orange mouth.

We are walking along the Bosphorus.
It is late at night; Istanbul a ripening fruit.

When I am done explaining, I notice
you a little way off.

You stop, you stare,
you do not know what to make of me.

by Jacqueline Bishop


Crazy Jamaica Link:
http://crazyjamaica.com/?page_id=492

Jamaica Journal Link:
www.jamaicanjournal.com/index.php/2009/10/13/love_bush