Phoradendron californicum
Desert mistletoe
Matthew Conley
of that first fall, how much/flight? Born of or
with these wing thousand wings/upright stood house of
morning songs/stood an office/a
-long the first lit branch/clung at then through, but off
of the center of those dot pink take thief
for drops my red eyes/might not then
offer the jaw trap juice or
off the kiss crest/where of
the wind is born trill/top tree aloof
over which way lord silk/y robing wish after all
of the blackbottleblack fli/es:/of those
-er as of the last gnarled kiss/holiness that
form never knew/yet the branch of
the Gold/en Bough
Phainopepla/too
~~~~~
Matthew Conley is the Executive Director of the Tucson Poetry Festival.