Boy With Flowers in His Mouth
Everyone can tell
he’s a boy who blooms.
Can’t talk without petals falling,
soft evidence against him.
He bites down on stems
keeping quiet, the taste
both bitter and floral:
a terrible summer.
Shame unfurls in the silence,
his body a greenhouse
flush with desire. A dozen
questions blossom on his tongue.
No one will explain this.
No one will name the flowers.
originally published in tahoma literary review
Online Publications
“Beehive State” — Psaltery & Lyre
“Boy With Flowers In His Mouth” — Tahoma Literary Review
“Boy With Orange” — The Maynard
“Castro Street” — The Common
“Catalogue” — Unbroken
“Día de Los Muertos” — Orange Blossom Review
“If You Play Jolene at 33 rpm” — Limp Wrist
“Kintsugi” — Rust+Moth
“Metamorphosis” (audio only) — Tahoma Literary Review
“Neighbors” — Up The Staircase Quarterly
“Night Fishing on Boulder Mountain” — Rust+Moth
“Night Horses” — Halfway Down the Stairs
“Night Rations” — The Inflectionist Review
“Sacrament” — Longleaf Review
“Serpents” — Glassworks
“Skyglow” — Glass: A Journal of Poetry
“Some Endings Are Artful” — The Inflectionist Review
“The Archangels Assemble IKEA Furniture” — Psaltery & Lyre
“The Escape Artist” — The Inflectionist Review
“The Lepidopterist” — Sweet Tree Review
“They Call This Flower Lucifer” — Psaltery & Lyre
