by Craig Arnold
You are the hummingbird that comes
a pure vibration wings a blur
propeller-burring a million beats
to keep still the world’s littlest pivot
spinning the heaven’s hemisphere
as a wineglass with a wet finger
laid on the rim to make it ring
Feathers a rainbow how you reel
hovering over blossom cheeks
tucked into the honeysuckle
to lap a single drop of nectar
onto your tongue messenger-goddess
kicking a gold-dust of pollen
out of your winged heel
The slow promise of your approach
makes my throat thick the joy gathers
deep in my spine as if it were a snake
making a smooth wave of muscle
toward the taste of water
-from Made Flesh, in honor of the poet, who went missing in late April and is presumed dead, and with sympathies to his friends and family.