Jessica Suchanek

Traveler

Dry tongue sticky like early morning sticky
like sundews hungry and hunting for meat
to dissolve          green teddy rising out of the milk
brown fists sunk deep in mud bottom giraffe
lifting a long bowed neck         waves of vine spilling
down to the roadside                    petite mimosa creep out
towards the center stripe with pink powder globes
          and shy little leaflets
pinched together          crimson eyed rose mallow spread out pie plate big
someone has tied a tree in deep blue ribbons so unnatural
sends a charge along my blood sets every cell vibrating
          like the unexpected
spring you bring          squeeze my heart without a drop
dribbling over and whizz off again God knows where
          I’ll pine a little longer for that chestnut
the sting in a nettle is its nutrient          all parts of the water
hemlock are deadly poisonous so wash the juice
from off your hands          leave the cream evaporating
in a dish          by the time you beat it out of me it’s too
late morning eases on down the road