on the mountain, the violets
shriek CLENCH YOUR FIST LIKE LEAF
SWALLOW COPPER FEEL YOUR TENDONS
LOOSEN (/UNSPOOL)

 

to be flower is to be born wind / grow in glass houses / swallow over & over
the dying of things               like a violet, you drink death
through your capillaries                   it tastes of zinc / tastes of magnesium / lends the soil
to fertility                               like a violet, you drink leftover metals
                                                 (/like leftover metal, you are intensely weathered)

 

on the mountain, the violets shriek THERE IS NO SNOW ANYMORE
NO SOFT BED FOR YOUR FURLING
pull that thumb from your lips –


the first shape
your hand made
was a fist / let it loosen

Amy Jannotti (she/her) is a pile of dust in a trenchcoat living & writing in Philadelphia, where she received her BFA in Creative Writing from the University of the Arts. Her work has haunted Calliope, Charge magazine, & others. She tweets @cursetheground
Image: Collage by Joan Pope