by Jory Mickelson
What a thing each year how the green shimmies
itself from the ground. Sap-spurred, seeds
syllable themselves into viridescent
sentence. The re-expandable light, sweet
irritancy, becomes crocussy and bloomsex,
making even the blush-faced hellebore
petal-wracked. Sun-roused, every flower parades,
sepal strutting, stamen waving, prolifigates
its pollen in golden tickertape. Heat uncurls
our longings until even we are new-sprung
and brisk-blooded. The chartreuse tongues
of leaves lick rain from the lewdbed earth.
Even Sappho begged sparrow-led Aphrodite
to pass over, until she saw an acanthus kiss the bee.
::
Jory Mickelson’s first book, Wilderness//Kingdom, was winner of a 2020 High Plains Book Award. Their second book All This Divide (Spuyten Duyvil Press) and third book, Picturing (End of the Line Press), are forthcoming in 2024. To learn more about their work, visit: http://jorymickelson.com.
Image: Jason Mitrione
ID: close up of a fern about to unfold.
Psaltery & Lyre 