Leaf Stalk
By Tony D'Arpino
Leaf stalk petiole anchors leaf to stem
Ending in the flattened blade of the surface world
A green blue suture of the underworld
Jointed stems and sheathing leafs flower spikelets
And the fruit of seedlike grain outside time
And inside space through blades of grass
A wave of walking thatch and ground water
Waving songs in thin tubes of earth grass
Roots hanging from the sound roof of the cave
Like woody plants standing in rushing water
Leeward there is no handbook of grasses
Underwater anemone ring of feathered hair
Kiss the skin of roots and thigh high thistle
Dame green slips off her garter in the desert
Slips off the covering of the green world
And shows her baking naked power
Succulent infidel flourishing on rock
With tiny paper lanterns swaying in the breeze
The moon is a seed slipper of milkweed
In the fresh night of cut flowers