Communion
Summer surges
out of the detritus of spring.
Whereas spring implied
to us she could turn death
into life: the hellebores and
crocuses splitting the bare
winter-scalded earth with
the silken flags of their petals
summer says the peonies scatter
their voluptuousness among
the shriveled spears of last month’s
daffodils, roses open out beside
the dimmed lanterns of lilac blossoms –
as it always is, the one
feeding the other.
CHRISTINE GELINEAU is the author of three full-length books of poetry: Crave from NYQ Books; Appetite for the Divine, winner of the McGovern Prize from Ashland Poetry Press and Remorseless Loyalty, winner of the Snyder Prize, also from Ashland. Read more.