PEONY BUD
a sphere as round
as earth multifoliate—
petals folded
into possibilities
ovate leaves the backdrop
waxy with the future—
jade pigment—
the outlines
capture impatience
like waiting rain
the main event—
the pink of peonies
unmatched by roses
or clematis what pink
was invented to express—
not a color really
but a gap in spectral light
in faint tracings
of blood in tongues
in our labia that need
to be named and have
a voice
XERCES BLUE
The first insect lost
to human impact. The color
of Alice Roosevelt’s
famous gown, Diana’s sapphire
ring, & profusions
of forget-me-nots that still bloom
on the same San Francisco dunes
where the Xerces lived.
The males had iridescent wings.
They survive in photographs
& in our minds’ eyes.
One quarter of all
papillons
mariposas farfallas
have vanished.
Laurel Brett holds a PhD in English and an advanced certificate in creative writing. She has published a book of criticism, DISQUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (Cambridge Scholars, 2016), a novel called a page turner by the NYT THE SCHRÖDINGER GIRL (Akashic Books, 2020). Her debut poetry collection, PENELOPE IN THE CAR, will appear shortly from Indolent Books.
Featured image: Nikita Karasik, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
