Offstage (ef)

Every-so-often
a light comes on – it’s a brief success
in the history of illumination,
but its brilliance is unscalable
and when a light comes on
every-so-often
everything that is Past is burned.

• • •

The sweet chastity of the flowerless
fades when exposed to constant bloom
as birds cavort in seedy baths
as pistils & stamens let bees impale –
fungi set their spores asail, wide-eyed,
the unflowering sisterhood observes
in shocked silence.

But the expressions on their sweet faces
and the gleam in their eyes sparkles
like a pure Christmas morning
as initiates presented
Nature’s sexy violence.

• • •

Nervously, she looks offstage
and asks,
“How am I doing for time?”