Princess Philodendron glides up sunlit steps to the masquerade in hir dress awash with pink variegation, hir mask a cotton-candied shroud.

When you look through a garden, you may see the Philodendron erubescens ‘Pink Princess’ is a climbing perennial plant with pink variegated leaves. Botanist Simcha Lev-Yadun suggested that some patterns of leave variegation may be a part of a defensive ‘masquerade strategy’. Taking this concept and combining it with fairy tale fantasy, Rae White weaves an enchanting story.

//@wings_humming is a non-binary poet and writer from Brisbane. They’ve been published in @slinkchunkpress, @corditepoetry and others.//