Autumn in Three Voices

by Mary Buchinger
Stalk:Sorry.

Once the dirt
loved me,
held me tight

Anyone hear?

I’ve grown colorless
transparent

trying to trace
how. Once there
was a pattern,
I’m sure of it

I remember
feeling
succulent

My neighbors—
rose and blue
flourishes

Communion

My fruit hung
like jewelry
heavy gold
treasure

What I would give

Already have

Dirt nods at me
indifferent

 

Gleaner:beyond
death

means
through
death—

brushing up
again

 

stsustenance
dangles
opalescent

dulls in my hand

hitchhiker
taker

solid ration of life

time pocketed

I harvest
arrival

in every fruit
a seed

the resurrection
I hasten

 

Fruit:The Point
of Everything.
The globular

handfulFull
too bloody bursting—
a word
just one?
in all this pulp
and juice!

sweet wet
ogling
gobbling
My purple
blush
mouthing

Glorious
sun’s Son

Beloved
of earth
rain’s
Progeny

skin stretched

Kick away from the stalk!
I kick away
Tender busy
thrumming
Hum hum
and dream
Stars falling
falling all around

 

 

 

 

Mary Buchinger

Mary Buchinger

Mary Buchinger is the author of five collections of poetry, including /klaʊdz/ (2021), e i n f ü h l u n g/in feeling (2018), Aerialist (2015), Virology (forthcoming) and Navigating the Reach (forthcoming). Her work has appeared in AGNI, DIAGRAM, phoebe, Plume, Salamander, and elsewhere. Buchinger grew up in rural Michigan, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador, and earned a doctorate in linguistics from Boston University. She’s a director on the board of the New England Poetry Club and teaches at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston. (www.marybuchinger.com)

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