WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - The Poetry Fix: We Should not Mind so Small a Flower

Episode Date: January 17, 2026

Today, Erika Kyba reads Emily Dickinson's "We Should not Mind so Small a Flower," in which poet uses the flower of a mustard seed as a metaphor for God instantiating the Kingdom of Heaven through the smallest and most easily overlooked means.

Welcome to the Poetry Fix on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm your host, Erica Kaiba, bringing you your weekly fix of poetry from across time. Today we're reading Emily Dickinson's We Should Not Mind So Small a Flower. Dickinson often does this thing where she sets out to write about garden imagery and ends up writing about something entirely different. And that's what she does in this poem, which makes no sense until you realize that she's talking about the Kingdom of Heaven. She opens by announcing that we should not mind so small a flower, except it quiet bring,

our little garden that we lost back to the lawn again. As she continues, this small flower that opens the poem turns out to be the queen of all flowers commanding over carnations, bees, and birds. Dickinson will describe her as a throne surrounded by bobolinks and dandelions. And that's because Dickinson's small flower is likely the flower of a mustard seed,

small, delicate, and bright yellow. How does this little flower come to rain over all the others? Let's consult the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 13. Jesus put before them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sewed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown, it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. Dickinson's use of bird imagery reinforces the similarities between her little flower

and the mustard seed from Christ's parable, as she describes her plant-inspiring bird song from out a hundred trees, and as surrounded by blackbirds. The feminine identity that the poet gives to the flower also reinforces this reading. The mustard seed is traditionally identified with the church, which is always referred to in the feminine, since the church is often described as the bride of Christ. When Dickinson writes that the mustard flower restores our little garden that we lost, I hope that a million alarm bells are going off in your head, because that little garden that she's talking about is the Garden of Eden, lost through the disobedience of our first parents. The Garden of Eden was a place of great

pleasure and goodness, which is what comes across in Dickinson's second stanza as she writes so spicy her carnations nod, so drunk and reel her bees, so silver steal a hundred flutes from out a hundred trees. These adjectives that she's choosing are very intensely evocative of the senses. The carnations are spicy. The bees are so drunk with pollen that they are reeling. The birds in the trees sound like silver flutes, a precious and rich metal. That's the kind of world that was on offer to us in Eden, and that's the world that was lost. And it wasn't a small loss either, which the use of little sets you up to expect, a nice use of understatement on Dickinson's part. Instead, it's a nearly irrecoverable loss. Adam and Eve are booted from the

garden, God forbids them to return, and cherubim are stationed before the garden's entrance to prevent any would-be trespasser. And how are we getting the garden back? Quietly, Dickinson suggests, almost unnoticeably, as the kingdom of heaven grows gradually on earth through the church. And that's where faith comes in. As humans, we're wired to pay attention to the biggest things, the brightest flower, the tallest tree, the loudest voice. What Dickinson realizes is that if something is small, we don't mind it. That is, we don't pay any attention to it at all. But she concludes the poem by saying that if you see the flower by faith, you can clearly behold the bobolinks around the throne and dandelions gold.

Just because something is small and humble doesn't mean that it can't be sacred. Think of how God reveals himself to Elijah through the still small voice, and not through the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. Think of how Christ came into the world as a helpless infant in a manger. God chooses the things that are the easiest to overlook to contain the Holy of Holies. And that's what Dickinson is seeing as she meditates on the flower of the mustard plant, which will one day grow into a great tree. If you're not willing to look beyond appearances, it looks minuscule right now.

But with faith, you can see the greatness that it hides. With all that said, let's dive in. We should not mind so small a flower by Emily Dickinson. We should not mind so small a flower, except it quiet bring, our little garden that we lost back to the lawn again. So spicy her carnations nod, so drunken reel her bees, so silver steal a hundred flutes from out a hundred trees, that whoso sees this little flower by faith may clear behold,

the bobolinks around the throne and dandelions gold. You've been listening to The Poetry Fix with Erica Kaiba. If you enjoyed this episode, consider following The Poetry Fix on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Podcasts. And if you have any poems you want to see in a future episode, email your suggestions to the Poetry Fix at gmail.com. Join me next week and we'll be reading The Milk Made and the Milk Pail by La Fontaine.