Arkansas Diamond, 1949 for Mother fingers of September sun gently tug / morning moon from its husk / high above Arkansas’s emerald fields / rooster gives voice / to Paragould dawn / in Gwen’s eighteenth year / she buttons chambray dress / dons headscarf over blonde tresses / daybreak pinkens cheeks / like the agates
remember, goddess (i’m your venus) after The Uncertainty of the Poet, by Giorgio de Chirico (Italy) 1913 and Bananarama’s “Venus,” 1986 remember, goddess, you once shed the sea’s frilly blue rhinestone nightie, emerged from dreamy ocean a bombshell the subject of whistle and worshipful gaze across magazine pages. now you feel unrecognizable but be not
Day of the Dead (chuparosa) after Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird by Frida Kahlo (MX) 1940 A Gustavo Martinez folk art painting captures me: a pair of hummingbirds hover over fervent petal clusters on a Mexican Flame Vine. I dine on plump Spanish Manzanilla olives and warm Pan de Muerto, savor orange, anise, and
