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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

night-blooming cereus



North Berkeley, California, 9pm Monday August 24th to 9am Tuesday August 25th. (Photo: Andrea Hurd)

No metaphors for this.
Only awe.
All the words:

goddess, miracle, leyla kadir
reina de la noche

rise in the chill of dawn, dissolve.

Only the quickening of heart
electric flutter of belly
ache in the roof of my mouth
back of hand to lips.

Waves of wonder
part laughter part sob
part intoxication
this is the scent of raw moon magic.


Pearly sheaf of stamen heads
unabashed pistil seduction
edges of calyx already
bruised in the instant
of fullness. Translucent.
Sepals a crown
for an archangel.

Twelve hours to open
to impossible largeness
gamble everything
fling tiny particles of life
towards more life

and die.

Copyright Shailja Patel, 2009. All Rights Reserved.

2 Comments:

Blogger Kimutai said...

Live in glory for the moment.. for 90 years is just a moment.

8/25/2009 10:28 AM  
Blogger shailja said...

And how! The extravagance of nature is amazing. So much utterly gratuitous beauty :-)

8/25/2009 10:35 AM  

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