"red wishes" by Thomas Gillaspy
"The Spreading Avens" by Daniel Jenkins
Red hand of the hunter, red hand,
Your appetite for the trafficked rare.
So where, red hand, is our safer night?
Spreading, us. In thick green prism.
In biting triangles. In rippling green.
Us, in thick dark leaves. Night petals.
We hang, red hand. Hang from granite.
Us, your yellow rock teeth, dangling.
Suspended, but sinking. Into gray.
The sharp edges, us, red hand, in rock
Beds choked by the tough earth meat.
Us, feeding on water and forest bone.
There. Under the high red spruce, us.
The dirt in our beds, red hand, is dust.
Us, your unbeloved, your ever-hunted.
In eleven secret shades on steep rock.
Us in hiding, in plain sight, a mile up.
Red hand of the hunter, red hand,
How can our fifty left stand up?--
Our deity, the cloud and mountain,
Watches us, red hand, in trampling,
Forced from places avens thrived in
Long before the time, red hand, when
Sugar—sadly for you—ceased being
Sweet on your ugly husband tongues.
Then you. Then us. You, red hand,
Coming up, coming up, coming up,
After us, after us, hunting us.
--Geum radiatum
Your appetite for the trafficked rare.
So where, red hand, is our safer night?
Spreading, us. In thick green prism.
In biting triangles. In rippling green.
Us, in thick dark leaves. Night petals.
We hang, red hand. Hang from granite.
Us, your yellow rock teeth, dangling.
Suspended, but sinking. Into gray.
The sharp edges, us, red hand, in rock
Beds choked by the tough earth meat.
Us, feeding on water and forest bone.
There. Under the high red spruce, us.
The dirt in our beds, red hand, is dust.
Us, your unbeloved, your ever-hunted.
In eleven secret shades on steep rock.
Us in hiding, in plain sight, a mile up.
Red hand of the hunter, red hand,
How can our fifty left stand up?--
Our deity, the cloud and mountain,
Watches us, red hand, in trampling,
Forced from places avens thrived in
Long before the time, red hand, when
Sugar—sadly for you—ceased being
Sweet on your ugly husband tongues.
Then you. Then us. You, red hand,
Coming up, coming up, coming up,
After us, after us, hunting us.
--Geum radiatum
Daniel Jenkins studies poetry in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. His fiction, poetry, and reviews have appeared in Thieves Jargon, JMWW, Lost River Literary Magazine, The Magnitizdat Literary, and The Potomac. Daniel lives and teaches in Northern Virginia.
Thomas Gillaspy is a northern California photographer. His photography has been featured in numerous magazines including the literary journals: Compose, Portland Review and Brooklyn Review. Further information and additional examples of his work are available at: http://www.thomasgillaspy.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasmichaelart/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasmichaelart/
