by Juliette van der Molen
Unscheduled Departure
Spoonbill, wings of tongue,
bird of mouth, consonants clattering
tooth pale, detritus of stars,
we draw the blade buried in thigh
in palm, bright moon swimming in my eye.
We swallow castoff pain, an extra plate
in the kitchen,
on the porch
in the yard,
a shallow digging in the grove
beyond, where we practice
the sleep of roots, night sky indexing
our rotation, respiration of dirt.
Rising out of darkness
we were once word
of firefly, fiddleheads
sprouting
from crevices
of our pavements.
Cypress wade blackwater river
knee deep,
drifting on the current,
we haul out, content as logs
sun basking,
flowing mouth,
no tongue uncoils our names,
grackles return vowels to headwaters
lifting out of limestone,
ill cut wicks smolder in our eyes,
smoke fills our hands of soot.
So much birdsong
tangled in thick atmosphere,
Ibis digging
in the verdure of our words,
the wind is its own voice,
rust of days fills my mouth,
always
we come back to this orifice
the delight of guavas,
sticky with mango,
sweet, sweet as my lips.
The grackle was already singing
liquid at my ear
when you boarded the bus
not even a suitcase, heading west
a void in the air slowly filling with leaves
tattered quilt of sprouting.
Peach Delphine is a queer poet from Tampa, Florida. Infatuated with what remains of the undeveloped Gulf coast. Can be found on Twitter: @PeachDelphine.
Juliette van der Molen is an author and artist living in Wales. Her work has appeared in several publications both online and in print. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of The Net. She is the author of four poetry books: Death Library, Mother, May I?, Anatomy of A Dress and Confess: The Untold Story of Dorothy Good (October 2020). She is the poetry editor & book reviewer for Mookychick Magazine. She has also been shortlisted for Best Reviewer in Literature (Saboteur Awards 2020). You can connect with her via Twitter @j_vandermolen, Instagram @juliette.writes or through her website at www.JulietteWrites.com.