Desire is the recreation of the world

Severed branches drip
from the oak tree

                                     they winter
                                     the elder

an emanation of breath

                                     they sweeten
                                     the meadow

lizards rejoice               the sound
of their hearts is the roaring
of fire

                                     the language
                                     of yellow

they twine through
the garden of
death like a vine

                                     and wavelengths
                                     of singing

the oak is dreaming of their dreaming
tails      eternal eye       a mirror
opening           fearless shadows

                                     the roots and
                                     the ringing

beneath us

Brandi George is the author of Gog (Black Lawrence Press, 2015) the play in verse, Faun (Plays Inverse, 2019), and The Nameless (Kernpunkt Press, forthcoming 2023). Her poems have recently appeared in American Poetry Review, Fence, and Orion. She teaches writing at FSW in Fort Myers, Florida.

Published August 15 2022