do you remember snips of tissue – pink bunnies and yellow chicks sticky fingers layering air while the cellophane ribbons were nests holding the fledglings we couldn’t wait to eat for their sweetness? speckled eggs in the garden, as the crocuses marry muscari while the tulips flute a song as the daffodils officiate; but summer transforms us from saplings to swans, so the iris grow to wear beards carrying crossed swords about their breasts and we raise a tipple of gin for this broad leaf salute as the light dapples the trees tipsy
— the sun is an otter rippling in his own reflections in the earth
In this big city, out beyond the reach, on a charming boulevard, if only in your mind, the gypsies overflow, swirling dervishes in red and aubergine, their mini-cymbal fingers tinkling chimes and talismans. And you, so dashing, with your blue crushed-velvet eyes, try to persuade, of love, as if forgiveness is the yellow rotary-dial telephone on my night table, as if I’m a nodding daffodil falling in misty sighs, in your fable. But there are haulers and hawkers, and peddlers in the market, these ruined sailors whose spoils are now worth pennies on the dollar, and for all your posturing in county-fair costume, you wear emotional blackmail like a portmanteau of cigarette ash and cheap wine. And her kiss was a subway token in your scrubby hands, scarecrow farmer’s son. Don’t ask why you didn’t see my reflection in the bedroom mirror, because I’m a Dream — a black cat fortune, a ruling runner of back alleys and wharves, dealing in silver and gold coins.
what do we think we understand, meat puppets that we are, she asks under a midnight Arabica coffee bean sky
under-earth fingerling roots, whispering tendrils, chive chivvy fungi in sparks and pulses, stewing in grainy soundless waves
above-earth starlings speak in murmurations and we only know what we see at the breaking point of earth-crust cleaved open – this wound a birth canal
moss push-push
do you know snow’s properties, its chemical consonants in the mouth? chant its mantras, naming its taste on your tongue;
to do so you must sniff the air like a wild dog, while remembering your wolf pack family from before, know the wind as a frilly slip of lingerie — a gambol in the field, a river running serpentine silver
hurry flurries pullulate over particles of sand and gravel transform winter’s iron fist with a new twist and slamming of your gavel
alchemical is the process sometimes named saltation which sounds like a yoga-flow sun salutation — or perhaps a cracker variety?
so what do you think, the meat puppet asks: what do we know of pith and bones, of curls and coils, of couplings, compounds and chemistry, other than what we see, believe to Be, in the birthing bed of a new season —
push-push
untitled
snow renders life in black and white but green tea dissolves a sugar cube
for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday Challenge #311: Synonyms Only. This week we must find synonyms for the words “spring” and “green.” I’ve delved into a variety of different words – using colours, changing tenses, finding some new and delicious treats – like pullulate and saltation. I’ve considered the changing of the seasons, how Time and Nature never rush; I’ve pulled ideas from different senses, like movement and taste, and I’ve been examining different landscapes and how the elements transform our world and consequently, us. I’ve gone with FREE VERSE and then 17 syllables – ONE LINE HAIKU.
Incidentals:
sal·ta·tion /ˌsôlˈtāSHən/ noun 1. BIOLOGY abrupt evolutionary change; sudden large-scale mutation 2. GEOLOGY the movement of hard particles such as sand over an uneven surface in a turbulent flow of air or water
ARCHAIC the action of leaping or dancing.
Origin early 17th century (in saltation (sense 3)): from Latin saltatio(n- ), from saltare ‘to dance’, frequentative of salire ‘to leap’
*
pul·lu·late /ˈpəlyəˌlāt/ verb multiply or spread prolifically or rapidly be full of or teeming with
Origin early 17th century: from Latin pullulat- ‘sprouted’, from the verb pullulare, from pullulus, diminutive of pullus ‘young animal’.
Definitions from Oxford Languages
Want to learn some really interesting and cool things about the venerated ancient – moss – check out this article – and for all kinds of information about tea – varieties, grades, harvesting processes and growing locations, etc., you can stop in for a brew here.
Frisson 
You must be logged in to post a comment.