Clockwork
Oil burst bright from the rind-wound,
sudden annunciation.
Warm mammalian sweetness,
bodies nursing sorrow mouth first.
Even the blossom knows this:
stamen gold with fatal dust,
petals already collapsing toward
the earth that asked for them.
If God wants anything
it must be our brief animal heat,
the unbearable fragrance
we release when we break.
I have loved people
for the light already leaving them.
14 thoughts on "Clockwork"
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That is profound. “The unbearable fragrance we release when we break.” I’ve never thought of us as temporary as flowers before, but i do now.
thank you
Yes to what Geoff said! I love: Even the blossom knows this:/ stamen gold with fatal dust. A beautiful poem.
thank you 🙏🏼
Beautiful sensory details create a tiny world that feels very large
thank you 🙌🏻
Dang this is good.
Who might you be, Ms. Viera?
Something tells me
I know.
🍊🥛
A real banger
thank you
You had me with “the rind-wound” and the last 6 lines were really fire!
thank you 🍊
the light already leaving them.
Wow! And I think your 16 line (but altered) sonnet form is great for this poem. A classical form, but with your own twist by making the first stanza into two couplets. Very creative!
thank you for noticing the form. (my 6/1 poem was a sonnet missing its couplet. the game’s afoot.)