wedded sepal
lupine pearl strung
with toothhole petaled tendons
or
pelvis split
in ardor’s labor swirling blacksmoke
coins in the sea
the eyes hawkmoth
a bible palmed across granite telling
gin river parable the muddy
waters rising over
rotted apples liver carved
by eponymous
wind
Copyright © 2022 by John James. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 7, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.