Early poison ivy In my generally misspent youth, I was a rock 'n roller—the lead singer of a band that most certainly was a legend in our own minds. We weren't very good, but we had a ball mangling both then-new songs and some of the classics, including the immortal paean to Toxicodendron radicans, sung by the Coasters and written by the equally immortal tunesmiths Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. In the past few days, Poison Ivy has "bloomed" from leaves no bigger than mouse ears to nearly full-sized foliage. In its new appearance, the leaves are red and shiny, quite pretty, actually. But if you know anything about the plant, well, "you can look but you'd better not touch," goes the line. You were warned and if you fail to take heed, "you're gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion." At the very least.