SAINT JULIAN PRESS
Sarah Carey ~ Poet
The Brazilian Peppertrees
For years they grew, like conspiracy theories
strangling mangroves, stealing all the light
from the sun we worshipped from our patio
where we faced the dunes we called our dunes,
palming mugs filled with espresso at daybreak.
So much native vegetation, we said when we closed,
when brown rabbits still crossed bushes
full of passionflower, but did not foresee
the dense, orange-berried trees
spreading their canopy of lies. We called them
beautiful, exotic, nesting in our neat
vacation space, while drupe by drupe
they colonized, marauders all those years
we failed to recognize, until one day
returning to the place we called our place,
we stepped outside, surveyed the scene
the way we always did to criticize our views
—we lost the ocean long ago--
saw squirrels race past stump cambiums,
a maw a landscaper had clawed. We knew
the sight was temporary--
birds scatter seeds to form new stands
while we are sleeping, dying, dead--
but for now, for just what’s left
of us, for all we still discern,
our faces fill with light.
For years they grew, like conspiracy theories
strangling mangroves, stealing all the light
from the sun we worshipped from our patio
where we faced the dunes we called our dunes,
palming mugs filled with espresso at daybreak.
So much native vegetation, we said when we closed,
when brown rabbits still crossed bushes
full of passionflower, but did not foresee
the dense, orange-berried trees
spreading their canopy of lies. We called them
beautiful, exotic, nesting in our neat
vacation space, while drupe by drupe
they colonized, marauders all those years
we failed to recognize, until one day
returning to the place we called our place,
we stepped outside, surveyed the scene
the way we always did to criticize our views
—we lost the ocean long ago--
saw squirrels race past stump cambiums,
a maw a landscaper had clawed. We knew
the sight was temporary--
birds scatter seeds to form new stands
while we are sleeping, dying, dead--
but for now, for just what’s left
of us, for all we still discern,
our faces fill with light.
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Publication Date: September 15, 2024
Paperback: $18.00 Publisher: Saint Julian Press, Inc. Language: English Paperback ISBN-13: 978-1-955194-37-2 E-Book ISBN: 978-1-955194-38-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2024940118 Paperback: 114 pages For a PDF Advance Copy, contact Ron Starbuck. |
Available Through ~ Bookshop.org ~ Ingram Content Group ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ IndieBound
Fine Book Distributors & Retailers
Saint Julian Press, Inc. * Houston, TX 77008 * Ron Starbuck ~ Publisher-CEO
Phone: 281-734-8721 * Email: ronstarbuck@saintjulianpress.com * Web: www.saintjulianpress.com
Fine Book Distributors & Retailers
Saint Julian Press, Inc. * Houston, TX 77008 * Ron Starbuck ~ Publisher-CEO
Phone: 281-734-8721 * Email: ronstarbuck@saintjulianpress.com * Web: www.saintjulianpress.com
SAINT JULIAN PRESS, INC. © 2022
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As an Amazon Associate — Saint Julian Press, Inc. may earn funds from any qualifying purchases.
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As an Amazon Associate — Saint Julian Press, Inc. may earn funds from any qualifying purchases.
This arrangement does help to sustain the press and allow us to publish more books by more authors.