"Red Flower Gate" by Susan Charlot Jay

Forget the seed with its dark wintering.
Forget spring's hesitant bloom.
Really, summer's when the calendar begins.
The sleepless extremity of solstice.
Moment of plucking and devouring.
spurt of juice against a ripe larynx,
the savored tang,
and spillage that forever leaves
its red fingerprint on the pristine white shirt.
Ask Persephone.  Eve.  Ask Snow White.
Story begins when innocence ends,
once you've bitten the fruit of summer and the body blazes.
Once you get up off your back, swipe between your thighs,
who are you now?  Where will you live?
How to negotiate your different tastes in music, her reluctance to talk?
This is the beginning of time.
Your hands are sticky and the sun burns too high in the sky.
Stars have migrated to new spots on the black velvet map.
An earthquake hovers just behind the eyes
waiting to shudder forth.

Bio: Terry Wolverton is the author of five books, most recently EMBERS, a novel in poems, as well as INSURGENT MUSE, a memoir, BAILEY'S BEADS, a novel, and two collections of poetry, BLACK SLIP and MYSTERY BRUISE.

Contact Terry Wolverton at ConsultHer@aol.com