Life, stimulated, looms in love poems
among biblical mention.
Figs, the new symbol of civilization,
each break ground,
plants to guide the reader,
offering impossible solutions
so that we may be saved.
Some may wish that the volume
be phrased as a wasteland,
unique latitude corresponding
with no political, religious, or ethnic boundaries,
deriving nourishment from merely a detail,
no distinguishing features included,
but friends lift their noble glasses
with new understanding
for the Eastern bluebirds in Bermuda,
family to roses, the last two examples
of brilliance accepted by the world.
The ledge we sit on is a whole new world,
an attempt at preservation of the remaining species.
Poem by Scarlett Peterson
Scarlett Peterson received her MFA in poetry at Georgia College. She is currently working on her PhD at Georgia State. She is editor in chief of Exhume Magazine, and was formerly an assistant editor of poetry for Arts and Letters. Her poetry has appeared or is upcoming in Pennsylvania English, Ink and Nebula, Moon City Review, Fire Poetry, Cosmonauts Avenue, Gargoyle Magazine, and more. Her nonfiction has appeared in Madcap Review, and Counterclock Journal.