Rose is before a
poet composes or knows
yet what a rose is.
Tender flock of lamb’s
ears, intently listening
for keen crying wolf.
Exploring dark earth,
taproots reaching for sweetness
discover pay dirt.
Unencumbered vines,
green submarines and rambling
carefree curlicues.
Bright hummingbird sips
liquor of hibiscus, fuel
of faithful flower.
After performing
athletic feats, grasshopper
resting on a leaf.
Harryette Mullen’s poetry collections include Recycloedia (Graywolf Press, 2006), winner of a PEN Beyond Margin Award, Sleeping with the Dictionary (University of California Press, 2002), finalist for a National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Graywolf Press published Urban Tumbleweed in 2013. Black Sunflowers Poetry Press will release Open Leaves / poems from earth in 2023. Her Silver-Tongued Companion, a critical edition of collected and uncollected poetry, is forthcoming from Edinburgh University Press. She teaches at UCLA.
Header photo by Couleur, courtesy Pixabay. Photo of Harryette Mullen by Judy Natal.
