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

                                                           old/est/stories not, but near

                  -er as of the last gnarled kiss/holiness that

                                    form never knew/yet the branch of

                                               the Gold/en Bough

                                             the “Mist/und Tang” is proof

                                 Phainopepla/too

 

 

 

~~~~~

Matthew Conley is the Executive Director of the Tucson Poetry Festival.