Luray Gross, Luminous

with a line from Kyle Dargan

Maybe, like the Easter lily, you will not choose

to keep your trumpet of light and scent

secreted in your own arms, sturdy as they are.

You will radiate incandescent 

star power, heat along with light.

No slap of wind will snuff you out.

Like certain plankton, like fireflies,

you will float or flit, sending messages

kindled by circumstance and need.

You will alight on a dry reed

like this morning’s first red-wing blackbird, 

its chevron patches glinting like sparks.

The sky’s mother-of-god-blue 

will shine with your eyes.  

Maybe you will be self-luminous

lighting up the sanctuary of the ordinary,

your urge to reveal greater 

than your need to conceal, 

the padlock and chains binding your heart 

Houdini-ed: all the horses of the sea galloping

just beyond your window.

Luray Gross, With This Body