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  Journal » Trout 17 » Blue Irises [Elizabeth Smither]
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Blue irises

Elizabeth Smither


Autumn and winter the irises
Have clawed to the soil like bunions
on a poor misshapen foot
raw at the bone edges

and despite broken shoes and new
shoes slit like crevices in rocks
and the grinding wind and rain
they have extended themselves

inch by bitter beautiful inch
because now like darkness visible
their blue head, blue veins, blue blood
unfurl like Byzantium.

 


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© Copyright 2012 Elizabeth Smither & Trout.