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Floral Arrangements
No naming names but some people I know
spend all day decomposing. No
and for my next act and no leave a message at the beep
if you get my drift rather loam and sleep
and cut to the pit orchestra swelling into aftermath and
ever after. She loves me or she loves me not says Susan
with both black eyes sewn
shut. On one greeting card the yawning
kitten lolls on the settee and on another one a duck announces that he knows
some of the nicest people. I don’t speak lightly when I say how
true. Hard rain on Johnny-Jump-Up and on Patient Lucy but their heads
bounce back. Dirge of bluebell and fiddlehead
claims of rest in peace early and rest in peace often
as even a nod-off
does you good. Lily to lily: ever seen a gondola or a lot of elk
all in one place? Lily to lily: what’s your favorite apostasy? Perhaps I asked
you and forgot. Prune or the petunias grow rangy and don’t just pull the withered petals
rather pinch the heads off at the stem. Just in case dress for a funeral.
Eat the hat and eat the heart out. Don’t kill
the messengers who never claimed to be our bright ideas. Last will
and last won’t last
are you going to eat that? Here comes the little engine chuff chuffing on its last
warm cockle. Some of the nicest people spend all day decomposing
hearts eaten out over the curtain down and always waiting
at stage right for the spotlight and the next big act. I never claimed to be
a baseball season. I’ll go ahead and cry if that’s my thing. When I said can’t miss me
I’m the house with bougainvillea I meant
enormous purple flowers but even that
was wrong. The—and I quote—small unnoticeable flowers
are produced in summer
and are surrounded
by large, brilliantly colored bracts.
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