Nocturne
The moon, a silver trinket, a bracelet
clasped against the dark skin of a young girl;
she pirouettes to the sounds of sticky insects,
undressing sleep’s soft chiffon.

Floret
Her nightgowns, flushed-pink
perfumed ribbons of hyacinth,
that slippered coquette,
blushing in my girlish garden.

Sancta Lucia
Lucy, her eyes plucked like ornaments,
watches as the young girls walk forth,
disappearing behind their dark mantles,
the rose, those dark stigmata.

Pernicious
Marmalade petals, crumpets of nettle,
tea trays of sugary, syrupy delicacies;
delectable gardens in redolent darkness
buttery blossoms we gobble and gobble.

Stamen
Meat-flower, moonflowers, flower-soft flesh,
awaken the brutal lover of love’s brutality;
ubiquitous white gardens of bruised gardenia,
the odorous tuberose, tendrils of jasmine.

Lepidoptera
Teetering above the feathered peonies,
lucent, inviolate, immaculately winged,
the exquisite stick; chastity in darkness,
like glass, slicing black satin.

Titian
Venus in Marble is no match for my sensual skin,
the rounds of my flesh, silky with salt and sweat
like the plump of the camellia’s white plumage,
my lush and supple body, downy with desire.

Spring Moon
The moon is a young bride,
swathed in twilight’s gauzy shroud,
delicate veils like winding sheets —
her virginity, the blushing dawn.

Cygnet
The swans, once tender slips of girls,
dampened and feathered, slender and soft.
Now their black waters are tousled silk,
their dressing gowns powdered in perfume. 

Louisiana
She stands at the sink bloody-mouthed and barefoot —
black-eyed meat cleaver, magic-maker making magic
gutting her toothless church, her conjuring gardens
like potato skin, peeling the moon from that black pot.

Rachael
You stroll across the summer lawn, your dark curls unfolding
in southern perfumes of sweet spice, the tender blossom of
your body blooming beneath that damp and heavy heat —
draping the mirrors, tending the iris, your watery roots.