MECHANICAL FLORA
for Elizabeth Treadwell
flowers of smoke
who put the ear
in spirit the eye
in surprise in aspire to nothing finer
without peer
who obscured
and then revealed like drawing back
a kerchief the hiding I
in annelise or analyse
we parents take care of whomever
we used to be
who put the host
in ghost
flowers of ice
we saw at the Winter
Carnival in the subzero
region whose mimesis
melts us all
robustly lit from within
was also an immediate
parade
flowers of mist
perhaps an erasable
kiss
not to know if we want
oblivion
or something finer
sniff this bouquet
then say whether
you’d rather
be minor
flowers of New Mutants #18
my favorite mechanical bird
and friendly cyborg want to land
at our house or at least
to lend
a warily celebratory hand
an alien boy and a girl made of math and words
arrive at your blackboard
maybe when you are younger
you’ll understand
flowers of Simpler Basic Home Repair
may metal parts and their hexes
never cease
to keep what you want to keep
and let you
forget what you want to forget
with some nuts you can look
right through at clouds
worth more
the more you see the sun
flowers of stones
because our clay pit pond
is too full of metals for us to play inside
or under (since we are mermaids)
we play a counting game
throwing in pebbles
additional gravel resembling
apple pips or cherry stones or seeds
of indeterminate angiosperm origin
they won’t sprout
we won’t fill the place up
on dry ground we have enough room
at least for who is here
flowers of tulle
why everybody wants to be a princess
nobody wants
to be the queen
flowers of osiris
and other stories in which
dismembered daddies obviously come back
thanks to the will and well recognized labors
of mommies who never
have time to do anything else
flowers of revoloooootion
few songs have richer history or more precedents
than this one: ‘what we are doing
has no precedent’
I guess it depends
what you meant
by president
flowers of no
to be happy
is to be vulnerable
sadness is amour
or armor
know who you’re sad for
flowers of sorry still no
people like me
are fearful creatures to our fingertips
compelled to be ladies
who want to be girls
flowers of summer
larks’ breastbones and ribs hollow bones
a protective cry
don’t open
what’s already open
flowers of autumn
celebrity
or celibacy
or celerity
all against maturity
flowers of winter
if you rely on telepathy
to know
who you know best
to be
in the same place would spoil it
then hit send
flowers of spring
from underneath the berm
to open meticulous sedimentary nest
or if we change kingdoms then
the message when the epicotyl
arrives
I live in midair
I greet you from there
who put the ear
in spirit the eye
in surprise in aspire to nothing finer
without peer
who obscured
and then revealed like drawing back
a kerchief the hiding I
in annelise or analyse
we parents take care of whomever
we used to be
who put the host
in ghost
flowers of ice
we saw at the Winter
Carnival in the subzero
region whose mimesis
melts us all
robustly lit from within
was also an immediate
parade
flowers of mist
perhaps an erasable
kiss
not to know if we want
oblivion
or something finer
sniff this bouquet
then say whether
you’d rather
be minor
flowers of New Mutants #18
my favorite mechanical bird
and friendly cyborg want to land
at our house or at least
to lend
a warily celebratory hand
an alien boy and a girl made of math and words
arrive at your blackboard
maybe when you are younger
you’ll understand
flowers of Simpler Basic Home Repair
may metal parts and their hexes
never cease
to keep what you want to keep
and let you
forget what you want to forget
with some nuts you can look
right through at clouds
worth more
the more you see the sun
flowers of stones
because our clay pit pond
is too full of metals for us to play inside
or under (since we are mermaids)
we play a counting game
throwing in pebbles
additional gravel resembling
apple pips or cherry stones or seeds
of indeterminate angiosperm origin
they won’t sprout
we won’t fill the place up
on dry ground we have enough room
at least for who is here
flowers of tulle
why everybody wants to be a princess
nobody wants
to be the queen
flowers of osiris
and other stories in which
dismembered daddies obviously come back
thanks to the will and well recognized labors
of mommies who never
have time to do anything else
flowers of revoloooootion
few songs have richer history or more precedents
than this one: ‘what we are doing
has no precedent’
I guess it depends
what you meant
by president
flowers of no
to be happy
is to be vulnerable
sadness is amour
or armor
know who you’re sad for
flowers of sorry still no
people like me
are fearful creatures to our fingertips
compelled to be ladies
who want to be girls
flowers of summer
larks’ breastbones and ribs hollow bones
a protective cry
don’t open
what’s already open
flowers of autumn
celebrity
or celibacy
or celerity
all against maturity
flowers of winter
if you rely on telepathy
to know
who you know best
to be
in the same place would spoil it
then hit send
flowers of spring
from underneath the berm
to open meticulous sedimentary nest
or if we change kingdoms then
the message when the epicotyl
arrives
I live in midair
I greet you from there