Squash Blossoms

                                 after wildfire season, 2020
 
My toddler says look at the little fires— 
 
squash blossoms in the garden
 
                        little fires in dugout canoe boats
 
lined one by one, sea-waving
 
little fires going off
 
                      squash blossoms pinning my clavicle
 
a pollen-pressed ribcage
 
little fires, loamy mounds
 
                       squash blossoms hand-in-hand
                       
stuck between smoke stacks
 
squash blossoms eating breath
 
                       like little fires, so many owies.

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Lisa Marie Oliver lives and writes in Portland, Oregon. Her poems have recently appeared in Book of Matches, Rogue Agent, and Sweet Tree Review. 

Art: Public Domain