Peach (for Atlanta)
I made a recipe with cream
and honey
and then as I sat and ate
A fat red wasp came
flying in
as bright as sunshine
red as clay and blood and vengeance
tiny god-machine
like Cupid's arrow
but for anger
land
to lay its tired wings down on my fence
and sing of hunting
This is Georgia,
honey darling,
and they crawl inside
of peaches. So you're chewing
and then suddenly
your mouth
is full of wasps, eating the same
bright red
golden candy fruit
that captured you.
They say the south's polite.
Something in the air
makes people nicer.
Flies around you more,
it hides the stinger better.
Welcome in
it's hungry here
my friend,
we hope you stay for dinner. Sometimes
life is good
and sugar's all around you,
pudding
Houses
in Atlanta
get abandoned
like old nests
Sometimes I declare
I hear
somebody buzzing,
right next door
in bright red sunshine
singing songs
for you, princess
--TG! 10/26
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