Neither shy nor shrinking,
vibrant orange blooms
jostling with neighbors for territory.

First to show in a bed not yet 
reclaimed from winter’s neglect;
last to go, refusing extinguishment 
by autumn’s bluster.

Wallflower, who ever thought to name an
awkward, peripheral introvert after you?

dVerse quadrille prompt: bloom: write a poem of exactly 44 words and include the word “bloom.”