Through a Paperbark Tree

by SoulReserve 

paperbark mouth drinks
floodplain blood, orange
into veins that spill sun,
light pushes itself into albino
flowers, dense and misshapen.

I stand on your roots, spread
beneath wetlands, body 
quivers, shakes with tethered
new seasons that rub 
salt into fresh wounds.

I crisp into paper, skin
golden brown and peeling 
like an alphabet long-written 
and forgotten, now speckled 
yellow sun-bleached memories.
​
I shed leaves, susurrating
through a murmur of wind,
tunnels through kaleidoscopic
light that burns nocturnal 
eyes and laughs and laughs.

SoulReserve is a wistful poet. Her poetry explores love and its tumultuousness, the fantasy and zest in nature, and allegories that provoke thought and evoke tender feelings. Read her published works in – "Across Vast Horizons", "Poetry d’Amour – 2019 & 2020", "Letters To Our Home", “Recoil 12” and WAPI’s “Creatrix.”