walter's advice to walter before the thorns set in
poetry by Iskandar Haggarty
walter’s advice to walter before the thorns set in
I.
poets and / gardeners / are the same. both / prune beautiful / things that were
// never // meant to bloom past / sunset.
II.
when / you fall in love, / make sure you // fall // for the roots. too / many flowers have wilted / alone in bathroom / sinks. too // many flowers / have curled up / in the tub at / night, hoping for a burial in / soft earth.
III.
Sometimes there / are more / ghosts walking the streets / at night / than there are / people.
IV.
you can / never / have too many tweezers.
V.
the thorns will set in at a // very // particular time. it / is a waste / to worry about / when.
VI.
no wounds clean easily. leave as // few // as possible.
VII.
there will be nights in which the / framework of your bed is made of / spectres. every home sighs / occasionally. it is okay. you and your head / full of saturn.
IX.
we have not created / light –
merely the / absence / of oceans.
Iskandar Haggarty
Iskandar Haggarty is a Latinx-American poet and a Co-Editor-in-Chief at Luminous Press. His work has been Nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. He has work published/forthcoming in Glass Poetry, Cotton Xenomorph, OCCULUM, and others. His favorite dessert is pumpkin pie. Find him on Twitter at @iskyhaggarty36.