Contributors: Kim Long and John Tustin

- -
I was in the sun for a moment:
I sprang from the nowhere
Of empty lots and refuse:
Warm and golden,
A bumblebee tickled me:
Taking what he wanted
But teaching me to feel.

And then you stopped to admire me,
Taking me in with all senses.
I was fresh and new for a short while,
The spring and I.
And I was beautiful,
You told me so
And in that moment
I knew it to be true.
You called me daffodil.

Your praise watered me
And folded around my roots.
I shimmered and trembled
Under your touch.

But you carried away the soil
Of my scent with you:
You were nothing but the wind
When you claimed to be the earth
Beneath me.

I die so soon,
Before even the tegument of summer sun.
I am perennial
But I need more to be reborn
Than a flattering wind
That doesn’t bother
To take a piece of me with him
When he shifts attention
Toward another sky,
Only the scar you inflicted
Upon my memory
To remain.


- - -
Kim Long is previously unpublished and lives in Florida with her husband and son. John Tustin's poetry has been published in many disparate literary journals and he is divorced with two wonderful children. This is Kim and John's first collaboration.