7/9/2021 draft, pub Jan 13, 2025
this storm has shorn
flowers of their petals
naked hips and stamens
purple gold white
and yellow scattered
like dropped skirts
on white chalk-soil
this is the shape of rain
on a leaf lyric
and precise round
and reflective intimate
on the level of atoms
with every surface
of the heart of its lean
these are the spikes of thistles
in penitential violet
dandelions rain lilies
mullein with ears soft
and furred as a lamb’s
this is spring
and will be again