A Note from Joshua St. Claire, dated June 21, 2082, to the Editors of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume 2: 1865 to 2038 (Seventeenth Edition)
Show me velvet antlers, a forkèd thing
of turgid tines. Show me breaking buds
of hills of elms. Show me roses and rings
breeding nightcolor. Show me a bunting
bill deadwide with stillstill serenade.
Show me helium flashing midnight dayspring.
Show me cumulonimbus cloudburst. A beating
heart may be bigger than a thunderclap, but blood
slowsgrows oldcold. Show me sillion summersmiling.
Show me auricaural intriguing
afternoon all afternoon. Show me mudstud,
dammitwhat’smyageagain, but no bareshingle,
no barebranch, no alkaseltzercricket singing.
The silversliverpaw drives the Lion mad.
Show me fullmoon. Show me X bloomdreaming.
Sometimes velvet handcuffs turn to stone. Sometimes spring
brings veilrending, teacupwormwood
steaming, but, please, no redpillbluepill spoonbending.
Show me—forever—EarthlyParadise Polaroid greening
Joshua St. Claire is an accountant who works as a financial executive for a large non-profit in Pennsylvania. His poetry has been widely. He is Pushcart Prize, Rhysling Award and Best of the Net nominee. His work has appeared in the Dwarf Stars Anthology and he is the winner of the 2022 Gerald Brady Memorial Senryu Award.
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