issue66takingabow

                                   ZYGOTE IN MY COFFEE.COM

***BIO*** A native of the Monterey Peninsula, Nicole Henares lives in San Francisco with two cats and one husband.

Home

Submit

Taking A Bow

by Nicole Henares

Late rains make a good year for roses;
   the blooms burst like fruit
with heavy petals ripe
   in Matisse pink, Fauve red,
and blood spots
   on the leaves; rust and rot
from confused California skies.

Warm Februaries bring miniskirts
   and sun lotioned legs,
butterflies birth early and die,
   while cities of ice break free
and polar bears sink
   with drowned tongues.

Spring scorch hosts jetskies and Tex-Mex.
Roots gnarl and wither;
   windflame turns land to ash.

The storm's monstrous eye
    has battered the birth of jazz:

But, it's a good year for roses;
the blooms burst like fruit
the petals full and heavy,
   like a last bow.

Aug. 2006