Wild Lily of the Valley

Among the ordinary lilies

of the valley, their bells

lined up neat

as choristers, you’re the country

cousin, tiniest sparkler

of bloom, stamen

projecting, nothing shy about

you. And who isn’t sexy

under the trees

by the lake, who isn’t

a little aggressive,

full of the need

to ignore the rules, to say

something directly

out of the thunder

of ground, the whole dark

that spawned us?

Nothing greater

than sex. The dark would run on

forever without it.

You show up

with your frowsy equipment

powered by two clapping

leaves, to unbalance

the civil town. Or, it may be

my mind taking hold,

tangling desire

in my hair until it is all a Medusa’s

coil, something we

come to together.