Prickly Pear

flower on a cactus plant

Repurposed wire
contains them –
two misshapen

hearts
beating purple fruit.
Thick-skinned lovers

lean as one
Rooted. Trapped.
Obsessed with the songful

beat of warbler wings and
the rising perfume
exhaled by nearby lavender

in bursts of purple joy.
Cautionary and spined,
protective –

prisoners of silence. Listening
as black clouds shed rain
that never touches ground

Josephine Pino

Josephine Pino was a child in Albuquerque, a young adult in many places, and currently resides near Portland, Oregon. She is a scientist by diploma, educator by heart, and writer by nature. She enjoys the intersections between all things that intersect. Her publications include poems in Cathexis NW, High Shelf Press, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, Anti-Languorous Project, The Fourth River, and Raw Art Review. She recently published her first short story.