By Madison
Date: 21 February 2001

gardenias

it doesn't take another 
streak of chartreuse in your 
hair to find soul

it doesn’t take another 
tattoo burning on your thinnest skin
or nine more piercings to let 
the soul seep in

even the hand-sewn 
sequins covering miss usa 
hide some pretty (no 
pun) soulful scars
painful, dog droppings
yeah, that’s me hiding 
behind another metaphor.  

we’ve all seen some ugly 
ashes we bought as 
flowers in the produce aisle. 
we lost days, years
we lost loves.  
in a literal sense. 

or died ourselves. 
and by some prayer 
someone made us breathe again.  

we have and 
we haven’t
visited graveyards. 

we have
betrayed ourselves
and come to find
a simple grace again.

we learn to forget 
how to dwell.
we pour water in a vase.


M Madison
21 feb 01