Auricle
I listen and listen but how do I know
Peace Peace in the plural says please or pleads
I hear the whole song divide the state as one
appeals past the last centuries’ pealing bells
wren under eaves ruins another wren’s heaven
dying sympathies appear as a pear or peas
with her territory her tune I want a nest
clinging to the twine Please Please in the plural
not a flag a mead hall not a circumstance
puts pain’s poor plea deeper in the apparent
a stable not a stability where animals dream
pressure the daylily plant the possible prayer
and dreaming among them I tell the stranger
pulling apart the sepal petals by their dusty crease
in my mind I can’t I don’t know how to sing
Source: Poetry (December 2017)