Monday, August 6, 2012

2 poems from an abundance of terrifying elements, by Amanda Earl


x.

this year i discovered
orchids in the grass

how they held on
how they lingered untended

lying dormant beneath
indifferent fields of snow

now in heat everything grows
the lemon balm, the white

horehound & the yarrow
staunches the blood, attracts

the bees, spreads root & seed
see how the wild flame ignites

its blooms unheeded
left to thrive or die alone

xi.

squash flowers
in the green

a public garden
overripe vegetables

squash untouched
beside the marigolds

stalks of sporadic tomatoes
windfall crab apples can’t be

exchanged for crack
a man drinks the last

of the juice from the plastic
bottle in the recycling bin

cranberry wine heated in
the sun to slake the dry

august heat. i can’t sleep.
it’s midnight. the slugs are

crawling across the dead
oak leaves. the cicada’s

parched metal tune is
on repeat. i watch the

vinyl album spin around
the turntable. its thin lines

converge and extend. the
music wobbles. my throat

is sore. the scar flares red
and itches. the indigo

pills take away the pain
for now. i’m afraid

of the confined space
of a dream. what the

black night cupboard
contains. beside the white callas

lies a wooden box. an indentation
 in the dirt. there is no sound.

i want the morning. the sun.
signs of life in the grass.


Amanda Earl is the managing editor of Bywords.ca &  the Bywords Quarterly Journal & the (fallen) angel of AngelHousePress. She tries to write poetry & create visual poems. She is a smut writer & a song writer, a lapsed guitar player, a dabbler in acrylics & an enthusiast of city walks. Her poetry has been published in Australia, Canada, England, France, India and the USA. Her visual poetry has been exhibited in Russia. Please follow Amanda on Twitter @KikiFolle. For more information, please visit www.amandaearl.com.

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