Planets of Asters

I want to hear about trees unafraid of debt, 

who believe the righteousness of tulips will save them, 

and about blue horses that love yellow mountains. Because, today,

the planets of asters are lined up without bad weather, and I want to

believe that everyone has new shoes this morning

to replace those with long pasts and fewer and fewer days

of azaleas. 

I want someone to tell me that the lives of lilies don’t always end

with the sorrow of sparrows, 

that, in the chronicle of lost waves, 

they always find their parents. I want to be told that

I will be endless, that my hair will always be the current of rivers. 

Let the moon tell her story where no child ever grows hungry.

I want to trust 

the astrology of roses which speaks of enough boats for all refugees.

Sing, dear constellations

of birds never growing old. Decree, loved one, 

that instead of death, I can dwell in your knees forever

EVA SKRANDE’s third book, The Boat that Brought Sadness into the World, is forthcoming in June from Finishing Line Press. Read more.

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What I Learned Picking Blackberries at the Farm Dump

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October, Tree Trunks After Rain