by Rodger Kamenetz
Glossy leaves this dawn.
You do not move.
You have taken your stand.
Not stubborn not stolid not faithful because not human,
Your will is cellular.
Not to mention red hair on quilted fruit
Implacable red beads, plastic a pterodactyl swallowed
In cretaceous times.
Limbs thrown back- for balance—
Trunk sore with lipped craters of lopped branches
Mouths or eyes sing one defiant note:
You survived hurricanes.
The salt of Lake Pontchartrain did not kill you.
Soft gummy petals.
Big clumsy labia
Big fragrance-- magnolia.
One a flame. One an infant face.
One a bloated butterfly dying,
A spill of linen
The sun stains brown.
Monster flower,
An altarpiece of golden virgin & rapturous spikes
And an oval head raised on its ruby shaft
A monstrance:
No church, no priest,
No tongue will taste
Street and sidewalk shy communion.
Passerby
Look with the eye of love.