Elyse Hart: 2 Poems

three wants

i play you like a prayer; 
sparse cries thrown 
in eclipsed desires,
floral hoop mirrored 
thick as infinity, 
no want left unturned
like river stones

i cry you like a stone; 
river prayers drowned
in floral desires,
hooped eclipse thrown
twisting form, 
a want dead ends
like a painted mirror

i drown you like a flower; 
painted eclipse unturned 
in river desires, 
dead-end hoop floats
holding plane,
two wants mirrored
like praying criers

set to smolder

renounce my gladness and toy with tinder
lose grains of sand, gain beach flea swarms
sip with milk pleasure warmed with amaretto
his fingers were my motto— 
a badge of honor worn at ends of wrists.
at the end of fall came winter, except it 
remained temperate

spoke with voice melted—a heavy task 
made of glass and two sticks

his gladness and hunger set to smolder, 
my seas in their flight, a path untraveled— 
dirt unpacked and unraveled

Elyse Hart is a poet and songwriter residing in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in The Nervous Breakdown, The Los Angeles Press, Haikuniverse, Train River, and others. Her first chapbook will be released by Subphonic Press in 2020. You may find more of her work on Instagram @elysehartpoetry.