peach

to think that

i could be

first fruit in Eve's garden

amidst star-struck magnolias 

& green-eyed apples

i could be this-

seducing you with my

sun-yellow skin, my juicy velvet

nectar, my sticky cleft body

in your palm

i could make you

*hungry for the sun,*

make you forget

dark music, darker shadows,

the darkest night when the moon

is only a curved pin

but instead

i offer you a calm moment—

peeling back my skin

against your fingers,

dripping with sweat

i am cool hand,

settled wine glass, shaved ice,

slow slow dance

reminding you

beneath fuzz and dusty skin

is one hard stone pit

black earth

sand & silt 

growing sweetness

honeyed by bees

scarred by wasps

*From Peach by Dorianne Laux

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight.  Wishing you a good summer!  Thank you for your visits and comments.

firestorm

slight smoke hangs in the air

the sky swallows

its blue, spits out grey

i water the pots of zinnias -

scorched leaves,

delicate buds - pinks, reds, oranges -

their thirst no different

from my own

my back strains with the effort

soon I can move only

gingerly

so this is what it means

to grow old:

the body keeping time

in careful steps,

while the heart

still leans toward summer

my spine pulls taut,

an osteoporosis warning

still, I lift my chest

summer has returned - 

heat, humidity, fires in the sky

i stand 

a maple tree

filled with orange-lit fog,

Toss in the wind—rack up the muttering sky.*

i root myself   

i hold my body high

grateful

for another season

of long, hot days—

for sunlight still warming

my shoulders,

for flowers

that insist on blooming

for whatever time remains -

to stand 

to weather 

to live

*A Thunderstorm by Archibald Lampman

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight #411- Hosted by Mish.  Thanks for your visits and comments.  Happy 15h year anniversary dVerse!!!!