Flower

One thing I appreciate about writing is that it gives me an imaginative space to explore and process emotions—all kinds of emotions. In this space, I try to encounter what I’m experiencing non-judgmentally. Emotions aren’t always neat, tidy, or pretty. Art aims to re-present experience in a way that is honest but crafted and beautiful. Some poems leave feelings unresolved, raw. Others offer a path away from pain or grief to something more settled or hopeful. The final form of a poem depends on many factors—the interplay of experience and beliefs, creative choices, and inexplicable intuitions.

“Flower” will be in my upcoming book, A Song of Glass, which I plan to self-publish later this year. Emotionally, this poem moves from a place of collapsing to expanding, a course I didn’t expect when I started writing it. The note of hope at the end helped me, personally, move to a place of hope. I pray readers will experience this as well.

Flower

I want to fold in on myself,
to close
and fall silent 
within pursed petals

so that beauty blocks
the claw of the moon 
and secrets what warmth I have
from cleaving winds

I will pass the night
swaddled in fragrance
then throw color-burst arms 
around a kindlier sun 

which coaxes gardens from buried seeds
and hand-feeds light 
to buds that lift their heads 
like baby birds