Slowly the torrid alligator peeks
\nabove a Water Bonnet blanket.
\nThe drowsy mate this wooing reptile seeks
\nseems bored stiff and far too hot to fake it.<\/p>\n
A tiny toasted twittering lizard
\nemerges on an afternoon romp.
\nPirouettes in air and like a wizard
\nvanishes into the searing swamp.<\/p>\n
Rain, a long absent love, confesses,
\nbegins with constant gentle caresses.<\/p>\n
Umbra sky appears as ardent ash.
\nClusters of cloud crushing cymbals crash.<\/p>\n
Bursting into tropical deluge,
\nthe reviving nectar does suffuse.<\/p>\n
The grass river sap streams.
\nA golden panther screams<\/p>\n
and on princely Hamlet\u2019s mortal coil
\nsun sets a rare and stunning vision \u2014
\nfrom wild tempered steel sky does boil
\nthe veiled apricot eye of Eden.<\/p>\n
Soon, hummocks lie embraced in sated air,
\nbalm of wet white shoe polish and sulfur \u2014
\nodor of growth and decay \u2014 and the glare,
\nfull rising moon, lends a lavish lemon encore.<\/p>\n
\u2015 appeared in Expressions<\/em>, August 2004<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"