to the Utter East
by Josey Parker
If the ocean was
full of flowers,
how long would it
take for them to wilt?
How long before petals became chips?
Natural with sea salt.
And would they look
like bouquets
or accordions?
When you bite a clover flower
and press it between
your molars,
somehow that blossom
unfolds on the buds
of your tongue.
-no, the flowers
aren’t bouquets or
accordions but carousels like
sticky fingers, maybe?
But the ocean is full of them and so
is your mouth-
your lips spit pollen;
there is no ark to
save us.
Your head is a buoy,
bobbing in
stems, sepals, petals, seeds.
Close your mouth
before
your tongue
catches mine.
I told you I’m allergic to pollen.
Greensleeves
hand me that leaf
we rescued last fall
to press between the p’s
it paled anyways
with veins
like a dry wrist
all we have are the photographs
of our fingers
dusty with chlorophyll
what will we do with the princes?
It’s hurricane season
-so sue me for
boarding up my windows
you didn’t tell me you would
be here throwing
pebbles
BIO
Josey Parker is a frazzled student and coffee enthusiast who somehow finds time to write copious amounts of poetry and flash fiction. Her work has previously appeared in the Claremont Review. Although she is an author, she is not in fact, dead.
