March 29, 2011

the marvelous body and its desperate living *

She says, you're here just in time for the azaleas.
The warm Florida afternoon slips my light sweater
off my shoulders and we drive from the airport to streets
medianed with bloom, pinks of all pinks
opening skyward as if their lives depended on it.

They do. In a few weeks, she tells me, they'll be gone.
The marvelous body and its desperate living.
On the plane, I'd asked myself, "Whaf if your whole life
was just beginning?" I've had enough of surrender and acceptance.
There is no color sweeter or more obstinate than pink, and I have my answer.

* I stole this title from Jill Malone's excellent novel, A Field Guide to Deception.