Sensate

Poem written for a contest, prompted by artwork.

Collective voices
musical, arrays of ears
perceiving continents cracked,
         a swim upstream,
neon pub & urban igloo
sidewalk chalk in summer storm

fires from mountains
dipped
in honeydew & lemon meringue

rising breaths from serpent kisses forked,
eyes of triangles; equine kneel,

smiles, gunshots, gardens...

the crooked path of someone’s tear,
         of doomed planes plunging
         into hearts volcanic, predator fields,
         millions of me making parallel universes
         with every single tiny choice.

An ice-blue iris stretches forth
as though begging
to be scented.