Once red sentinels
tree titans
of sylvan
peace:
reduced to two blocks
of wood...
(We) communing in whispers
mouthpiece of wind
time split us cleanly
Will the blinding light
of His Blade ever dim?
She and I
sitting on a split-rail
fence
--no pioneer past
to pack a pipe
and smoke about
by stout men, with
sun-etched crows' feet
coveting their contemplative
chin-scratching
pea-
cock posturing
and broad cowboy stances
in the dust
...In This Dust
of the Land
that wind-whispers
-our- names
long after the men's pipes
have been fossilized
in the bowels
of Mother Earth .........................................................

<> "THISTLETHINK" by Gloria Wimberley (Dialect of Dahlias; Edgar & Lenore's Publishing House of Los Angeles)

Thistlethink: touch the prickly pink and stem of green --an absynthe to nudge the brain to the brink

Green Fairy floating sucre aflame cloud of louche opalescence Maignan's "Green Muse" calls my name...

Fancy slotted spoon lies corpse-like on lace, a quill-less pen is hugged exquisitely by digits demi-numb

Close my eyes to recapture the original ink-iced nature image that will make the word-waterfall come .........................................................

<> "COTILLION EYE FLOATING DOWN" by Gloria Wimberley
(Dialect of Dahlias; Edgar & Lenore's Publishing House of Los Angeles)

The scythe of earth
hangs like a hammock
between "cenicitas (little ashes)
to shimmy like a shark
~lithe phallic symbol: breathing
inside the tapestry-rose
lining of the executioner's maks:
he filled the guillotine
with bloodblisters of stars
until a Spanish galleon
of "Blue Gato Delong"
ghostly lit
the spectral trails
of Packard-Mustang-Chevy
corpse-cars

Singing trees
like rain
dredge the air
with leaf-lyrics
and unchidden children
screech
like parrots:
Where are their piratical parents
to Jolly Roger
them into a sirensong
of silence"
To chatter, nay,
like a Fauvist parrot,
but to float sirenly and serenely
on a patina-pond
as a Monet waterlily
sprouting from Gala's
unsevered, unbloodied
eye socket
of Emporda .........................................................

<> "MAMA WEARIES THEN BRIGHTENS" by Gloria Wimberley
(from Dialect of Dahlias; Edgar & Lenore's Publishing House of Los
Angeles)

I wanted to bathe
(but instead I bathed in the sun)
I wanted to sweep the floors but for fun, I swept away
a stickysilver web
between two trees
and laughing, mused
that I'd hurt no one
Then I saw that because of Me
--and my sun-sudden glee
a hardworking spider
was homeless...

I wanted to tidy up the house
--pick up the books, dolls, and toys
the Dr. Seuss-esque gizmos that bring mirth of noise 'stead of work, I focused on fun:
My child and I played
until the day was done...

Please give my regards to the conspiratorial sun
I don't regret chores undone .........................................................

<> "SPARK O' SOUL" by Gloria Wimberley
(from Dialect of Dahlias; Edgar & Lenore's Publishing House of Los Angeles)

A sprig of pine
ever thine
shan't wilt
from wound of sun
but shrivels from
lack of fairy flame
which warms us~~every one .........................................................

<> "SILVER SLIVER...Alice Blue" by Gloria Wimberley
(from Dialect of Dahlias; Edgar & Lenore's Publishing House of Los Angeles)

A sliver of silence
brings paper-thin
pain...
to quiver
like a hummingbird
caught in
wings of rain
~ice blue~ .........................................................

<> "PIECES OF A LIQUID PUZZLE" by Gloria Wimberley
(from Dialect of Dahlias; Edgar & Lenore's Publishing House of Los
Angeles
and first published in LITERARY MAMA MAGAZINE, 2008)

Filled her wooden name
puzzle
with jacinthe juice
then gingerly poured out the liquid
(to her, a magic elixir)
into a plastic Cinderella
teacup of water
and then back into her empty
puzzle space
(the 4 letters of her name
in primary colors, scattered nearby)

As she sat splayed on towels that lay across the kitchen tile
concentrating on her concoction,
art and alchemy
became birds of the same wing
My baby girl
~all smiles and purpose
showed me...

We
can fill up our names
our identities
with meaning
no matter how fluid
or murky .............................................................................