by Burt Bradley, from After Following
Unlike you, I have no tower
of symbols, no great lust for Helen of Troy,
no Maude Gonne to fall madly over
for years, and no Madam Blavatsky
(thank God and all seven orders of angels).
Just this rose, this skinny bush
climbing my porch, thorny green
with rouge, red flowers half
wilted now fro…