Iris
Under the big window
they swayed - fat bruised buds
pumped almost black with blue.
Open, their complex vulvas
had bees bumbling at their lips,
greasing themselves with pollen.
You picked them.
Bunched them into a vase
in the window’s good light.
Now I fold brittle stems
into the bin, their pale inks
parched. Each head
is something pulled from the deep
that died in the sun.
And I stand
by the big window, look
at hands that held you, at veins
proud with blue.
Page(s) 42
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