She Awakens in a Town by the Sea
       

The street, milling all night. Old lace—
faces peeking out into drifts of blossoms,

drifts of bloom. Tell me about yourself, Sweetie.
Everything you say may be held against you.

Drifts of blossoms, studies of bloom.
Or boas. Boas and other entanglements.

The auditions go on regardless.
Mammatus, Mami Wata—clouds

begin to break. When she steps outside,
a soprano's song saturates the air.

Shards of shells on the walk beneath her
feet. Gardens tuning up in a minor

key. Before their petals fall away, she will lift
a shattered glass.

A gull coasts over the jetty. Drifts
of blossoms, curtains of bloom.

Tweet

Copyright © 2020 Terry Blackhawk All rights reserved
from One Less River
Mayapple Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission