Delphinium ~ a gay garden, revisited
May 2000
‘Till the shadows
on his past
In a separate garden.
Except that we were
laughing
they cared less
full silhouettes
silent blooms
or mindless
heads thrown back for
That last meal
the razed sun mocking itself
on a wayward frond
Tricking the eye into
Thinking that it is
reseeing a day of youth
the shade of shadows
in shadows
the shrill darkness
of the last fall
When everyone was
subsumed
just another monster of
the million-rooted blood hydra
to be melted
who were we then
to be still here
on this day hidden
behind black purple
Siberian irises
splashed with vodka
sweet sweated morning glories
all flora
staying out for a long
nevermore
nevermore
fox gloves
slap each other with lurid lilies
forgetting the cauldron
of dried tears
Noontide
smiles of a spring day
more laughter
warm intimacies
winds swirls
making us blink in
red or violet afterburns
of more champagne
pink fade to the
chorus of dahlia
that swat & sway
all afternoon
dance against
the hushed leaves of grass
the entre-acte of blur organza
brushing by
Spiked feathers
Tripped over bowl of clover
Whispered over
villainous amaryllis
we, us, our
Sacre du Printemps dancing
With such beautiful intent
Snapdragons in
feral poses
Under arc of de triompherow of
lilac clematis
(ear-ringed, dreadlocked)
And the ladies of the Camellias lingerenough to
Descend.
On neon Medusa granite dragon
finally blinded
the orchidvine spiraling on
zinia in gnarled beauty
because of
and forgetmenots
lost on other endless fetid afternoons
but certain of the geogalaxy
but wary of the ants
cotillion or
The red speck-disco flies
Amok on mauve silkbelles
By dusk
there is no more music
The lovers gone
out of the
heroic sea
of unwanted souls
What we
were once
& need to be again
Will always be
on this vanquished day
remembrances of
Ghosts of the gardens at Versailles.
vaporized
through endless
nights
unforced bloomed
in this twilight of roses
still lost in someone else’s time
no we did not
remember promises not to
fall in love
cheat on our lovers
Or press leaves between
The pages of the pact that
We are finally
loving witness for each other
that is our sanctified root
the perpetual motion in eternal bloom on this final day
So the light changed
there is laughter
as the silver lark
flies out of Troy
sings to drown out
cry for the next rain
soaring in this
the afterburn of this metropolis
so blinding
she soars
in to the fields of
Delphinium
as the shadows of the past warriors
shield all the queens of the garden
(For Jack & all those beautiful men gathered that )
Alternatetakes2 