Nomad, Dryad, Nymph. by Joseph V. Milford

your cursing naked as bark against wind

my retaliation was stark as jawbone calcifying

among tumbling weeds pacing the structures

of your prime estates—you have permanent tenure here

so I must rebel or negate  every elemental

factor of your lips that once bred feast fire famine

dust lust or endurance—in my hand you were the powder

of wings and nuclear bombs—in my heart you were a lotus

that gods never pissed upon.  in my mind was the hard part—

you were there swinging your fists atop every imaginable rampart

Joseph V. Milford is the author of the poetry collections CRACKED ALTIMETER (BlazeVox Press) and TATTERED SCROLLS AND POSTULATES, VOL I. (Backlash Press). He is an English professor and Creative Writing instructor living south of Atlanta, Georgia. He also edits the online poetry thread, RASPUTIN, A POETRY THREAD.