Laurels Literary Magazine Spring 2016 Valentine Zine | Page 11

listless
before dawn
By Janna Tierney
when she feels red
veins of the thick leaf
she wonders, is it made
of plastics—
or carbons?
miniscule canyons
in swirling parallels
coat the surface of her fingertips,
registering each bead of glass:
morning tears
oxygen—hydrogen
breath—fire
dew.
contact with her skin melts,
smears
nature’s sniffles across
stalk and stem.
brisk wind rising.
gravid moon yet to sleep.
she yawns, pulls
black lace branches
across her face:
a momentary recollection of decency.
gay with fast encroaching dreams,
she smiles,
sinks
beneath cricketing brush covers
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