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Catching the Bouquet
by Ariane Bolduc
For Sylvia Plath
You startled me
with flowers, flung
into space:
savage flowers,
falling
in my uncupped hands.
A sudden bundle
of roses
rolled tight
as cocoons –
Something looms,
something
looms
like cells
in the blood, turning
against us,
killing, unseen,
beneath skin,
liquid rubies
looping
through the system,
pretty poisons
to the heart
in small doses.
Here
is the obvious blade –
your bouquet.
Already changing.
Each bloom:
a raven,
all hard eyes
in unison,
their brutal beaks
breaking
through soft
baby’s breath.
Sylvia,
don’t toss me this
from that
mythical height.
We don’t need
another woman
in white, gowned
for the hospital bed.
I didn’t ask for this
nest of black roses,
mouthing, “This is the rest of your life.
Surprise.”
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Magnolia (Sublime)
by Theresa Franks
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