Elemental by Marjorie M. Evasco

or the motion of jasmine
climbing trellises to show off
a single blossom at new moon tide.

In my garden the bamboos arch
over patch of grass, river stones
upturned earth. Alone where weeds
grow wildest, I think:

How the golden skin of mango
broke between your teeth; how
you swallowed the seamless sky
over Siquijor, your body becoming
an entire land I could intimate
black moons from, taste of earth,
rush of river songs, smell of air
before rain, spray of flowers
with strange names. Yes, there is

Reason to this ripening.
You are goldened by my tongue.