The Moon Garden, Again                                                                          —Kimberly Miller


She finds the firm petals of his lips

                                                            nicotiana     a white held breath

at the center of the five o'clock thorns that fur

                                                            the unfurling habit of brugmansia

and guard their treasure    Between them a frank  bare  glance

                                                            evening primrose  roused  stretches

glows on its stem      His voice climbs and tendrils

                                                            the tuberose   too   naked bulb  

in her cochlea       When he braces himself above her

                                                            to which the tender soil clings

she trellises to him      her long thighs twine

                                                            in their shameless sprawl       the night phlox

to the muscles of his hips      curve of her

                                                            candid moonflower     winks and lists   

forearms wicket       round his ribs

                                                            mirabilis lisps          luna's secrets

their voices vine           tauten        rise and lumen

                                                            their pale incantation     loosens the cinched

the lulled midnight       nourishes the fallow quiet          their nocturne stirs   

sepal of petals they arc honey the vespered air

Kimberly Miller.jpg

A native of east Tennessee, Kimberly Miller teaches English and Humanities at Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Lexington, Kentucky. She frequently writes on natural history, the history of women in science, and the accomplishments and struggles of working-class women. Most recently her poems have appeared in Clade Song, Saltfront, and Kudzu House Quarterly, and the anthology Curious Specimens.

ISSN 2472-338X
© 2018