Imagine my surprise
when a friend shrieked
It’s snowing in Florida!
Same surprise as when a stranger
who invited me to his limo
for a ride to the Roxbury asked me
how I took my Coke
and then laughed when I said
Zero.
Same surprise as when a stranger
who invited me to view
his private Dalí collection
took out his
Gold Amex and mirror and said
Blow.
Oh, Michigan,
you did not prepare me
for all the snow in Miami.
I say never
Sitting by my father’s bedside
after a stroke has returned him
to boyhood, I think of the water
that poisoned the city he has been
driven to for care. Outside the window,
wind and rain, a string of spring roses.
Inside, sleep and dings, a string of dirty
diapers. A nurse says, Have hope, as my father
asks for my dead mother. Is this how it will end?
Emaciated in bed, all pleasure erasure? I think
of how we fought when we were young. How
we couldn’t seem to see the same way. And now,
the only child, childless and motherless, I care
for him like my own baby. And when he asks
When will you leave? I say never.
Lilac Ghazal
There’s an island where horses are drowning in lilacs.
There’s an island where tourists are drowning in lilacs.
I went to the island where no cars are allowed.
I went to the island where ice cream drips lilacs.
There’s an island where everyone overindulges in fudge.
There’s an island where everyone overindulges in lilacs.
I went to the island where a man turned to stone.
I went to the island where a man confused foxglove with lilacs.
There’s an island where sacred burial sites are disturbed.
There’s an island where furs were once traded for lilacs.
I went to the island where I hear my dead mother’s voice.
I went to the island where she’s scattered in lilacs.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.
Nicole Tallman
Nicole Tallman is the author of four collections: Something Kindred, Poems for the People, FERSACE, and Julie, or Sylvia. She serves as the official Poetry Ambassador for Miami, Poetry and Interviews Editor for The Blue Mountain Review and South Florida Poetry Journal, editor of Redacted Books, and founder and host of the Be Well Reading Series. Find her on social media @natallman and at nicoletallman.com.