Echo of Origin

John James

wedded sepal

               lupine pearl strung

with toothhole                    petaled tendons

                              or

pelvis split

in ardor’s labor                 swirling blacksmoke

             coins in the sea

the eyes                           hawkmoth

a bible palmed across                  granite telling

gin river parable                            the muddy

              waters rising over

rotted apples                    liver carved

             by eponymous

                                                                  wind

Copyright © 2022 by John James. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 7, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.