Serotina

the poem has already begun without you, NaPoWriMo Day 2

because the bloom was already split
or it wasn’t and I came in too late
because something had opened
or it held

pasque flower - Pulsatilla -
first of the spring ephemerals
is she shy
or already
past me

Pendell knew:
plant intelligence does not negotiate
with your readiness

the door opens
you go through
pulsatilla is what closes it /
one drop to help the body find its way home

materia medica as spiritual fact

one drop
and I did not take it

or I took it
after the door had been open too long

and the body
did not return the same way

I mistook the season
for something that would wait

serotina:
too late. coming after its time.

I have returned
to where it was
and it is not there

only the stem, its scaffold
stripped to its wire
petal   pelt   palate
the mouth still turning
where the sweetness was
past the celebration   past the feast
past the mouth’s own knowing
past lullaby   past lament
past any ritual that still converts
past even the naming of it
the tongue won’t leave it

heaving
the weight of it
not lifting
in the chest where it keeps

vespers
for what opened and was not taken
for what passed while I was elsewhere
for what did not wait
for the body that was not ready
for what will not open the same way again

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