Proboscidea parviflora
Devil's claw
Lisa Cooper Anderson
I wake at foot of palo verde
right here will do / where I find myself
begin the green crawl out of earth
pale elbow slips from a slit in the seed case
I stand, spread my first leaves
lean onto the mother berm
nonchalant, not shouting
stretch over her brown arms
a leaf here, there another
I dedicate each bloom to morning
I am at eleven now
the beginnings of my green beak
wind tears up the chips
my petals flop together & stick
in a blinding my forward foot unzips its green jacket
the springy bone inside divides, encircles
making the claw or what you would call it:
stick handcuff
an empty binder
brittle cuddle
snap judgment
rolling ribcage
one crazy unicycle
down in my nest the gritty wind
the laughter in a coma dream
wishbone
house beautiful
coarse anvil
seeds rest in bark fuselage
plowed in by hoofbeats
the mother earth, mother leaves
the mother fruit
the rough mother
an arc
scattering her children
~~~~~
Lisa Cooper Anderson has lived in Tucson, Arizona, most of her life. She works as a freelance editor and recently published a chapbook entitled Strawgrass Music.