2 Poems

I was sure we could give you

human shoulders and abdomens.

Then you could try having stomachs,

try eating the world with a mouth

instead of abstracting sunlight.

Your stigmas already resembled our tracheas,

your petals could grow into fingers,

we could give you little feet

to keep beside your roots,

you could study other forms of dancing

besides what the wind showed you,

perhaps even come to understand

the reasons you are in the garden.

But no, now that you are almost human

all you ever seem to do

is follow behind us in the flowerbeds,

sipping on our poisons

and making long lists

of your tedious disappointments

when we only wish for quiet.

In what vases can we keep you.

oh Lady oh veils shifting

oh mouth singing of veins

i will speak only your name

if you leave me one lung

i can keep on being

what you take blood from

you can make me into

a red field in a red frame

that your thin legs walk on

above me you will lie

as your eyes align

on my pain made numinous

your shapes will be numerous

like any other lover

your features will shift

i will show you my need

my life until death

i will be painted

and firmly mounted

on a stretcher

your little sin

your laughter

your caricature