Victorian Painted Lady Poem by Cheryl Renaud

Enclosed again. When night rises like
a dark staircase.
and the waters surround like apparitional fingers.
a gentle invasion. Mighty sepulcher;
In a scepter, potent wave.
there’s a daisy, sitting, dainty
with a wet look and an eye larger than
the sun when it’s squeezed between
your finger and thumb.

the sea held inside it
a chilled, dignified pearl


in which…it is enclosed once more

It’s like inheriting the face of God.

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(9 March 2005)