Primordial Heart

Along fences, between 

grasses, a churn of irrepressible stems 

and leaves appears 

bristled, silver,

flower buds heavy as initiates’ heads 

bent in contemplation, 

multiplying cell upon

cell in silent ritual: from darkness, a body, 

from this fragment 

of rememberer, re-

member yourself—a seed split 

into sentience. 

Anther and filament, 

pistil and ovary, in each papery-orange papaveri

a dark dome forms

like the punctum saliens

the throbbing dot of a primordial heart.

A single poppy 

bursts before others, 

one small fire in the green surge,

elemental petals 

red as cloud-waves thrust

from a dying star saying again what is—this is— 

in the fertile field.

Radha Marcum’s work is rooted in ecological, social, and personal landscapes of the American West. Read more.


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A Meditation on Form

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Fire Followers