{"id":231,"date":"2016-08-15T20:09:46","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T20:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/?p=231"},"modified":"2016-08-15T20:09:46","modified_gmt":"2016-08-15T20:09:46","slug":"poem-of-the-month-always","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/?p=231","title":{"rendered":"Poem of the Month: Always"},"content":{"rendered":"

Always
\n<\/span>your listening face
\n<\/span>coaxes me to cull
\n<\/span>my cluttered mind,
\n<\/span>to seek the corners,
\n<\/span>ladle strayed words
\n<\/span>that coincide
\n<\/span>like fitted gowns
\n<\/span>from a ransomed twin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Always
\n<\/span>your loitering hands
\n<\/span>with gardener’s care
\n<\/span>stipple my flesh
\n<\/span>to lush buds
\n<\/span>that hover and bloom,
\n<\/span>tremble and spill
\n<\/span>like orchids tipped
\n<\/span>by jungle rains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Always
\n<\/span>your sheltering heart
\n<\/span>saves my place,
\n<\/span>remembers my name,
\n<\/span>sheds its grace
\n<\/span>like prairie seed
\n<\/span>from full pockets,
\n<\/span>reckoning not
\n<\/span>what may return.<\/span><\/p>\n

Always
\n<\/span>my hungering soul
\n<\/span>accepts your bounty
\n<\/span>as a heedless child
\n<\/span>wears summer’s heat
\n<\/span>like second skin.
\n<\/span>Here, then, I tell you:
\n<\/span>I note the rife gifts,
\n<\/span>harbor close the giver.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAlways\u201d was published as part of the postcard project, Common Prayers<\/i>, Los Angeles, CA, 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"images\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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