"Little Februaries"

Paperwhites

BY MICHELLE DETORIE

Little Februaries, they

            unbind themselves, pages

sweetening the air.

            Little petals, not fit

for grieving, ornately

            frail. Petals sheer as sheets,

as raw and spare. Stems,

            thin straws of green, needles

drinking the dirt —

            unspooling the white

bulb into blossom. Lips

            parting open their pale

veils. Green veins poured

            into tiny cups of ivory air.

Green straws — green pencils —

             throats through which a shallow

dark is drawn. White notes

             birthed and nursed. A white song

scored — forced out — little breaths

             exhaled. Sweet wreaths for rooms.

Sweet wraiths exhumed. Eyes

             opening the whites

                         at the end of their lines.  

 Source: Blackbird Archive

The Gifts of Autumn: #1. Blue October

October's Bright Blue Weather

   O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
        And flowers of June together,
    Ye cannot rival for one hour
        October's bright blue weather;

(first stanza from the poem by Helen Hunt Jackson)

Words for Wednesday

Dahlias

by Sarah Day

Strangely bright
their electric colours
leap at me
from dark places.

At night I smell
the rusty rag leaf, brown water;
through the black
their lurid shapes come flaunting back,

shockingly exposed.
Their rude truth glares at me.
I shut my eyes.
The air weighs thick with acrid odors.

Source: Australian Poetry Library

More about the poet: The Write Stuff, Sarah Day

Friday Edition: Plums & Poetry

This is Just to Say

by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Source: Poets.org