Gardenias sometimes, by happy accident,
burst forth a second time, fall,
late summer after a green rest, a spurt
of botanical passion before sleep.
Not so the trees: cherry, apple,
pear blossoming in lush seduction,
brief season of flower waning
into fruit.
I balance on the cusp
of the second half of life, waiting
to fall, cupping the late bloom
in my upturned hand. A second blossoming
our love has brought me to, finding myself
in you, in passion. The unanticipated flower
also bears its fruit, and nature’s plan
is realized as you bite
into me and tear away the pulp, red
and white, exposing my core, spilling
the dark pips.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 24, Issue 4.
Cynthia Rausch Allar studied under Molly Peacock and Greg Pape at Spalding University, receiving her MFA in Writing/Poetry in 2004. Her poems are found in anthologies Myrrh, Mothwing, Smoke, The Cancer Poetry Project, The Boom Project, and soon Beyond Queer Words. Her work has also been published in Mobius, Mad Poets Review, New Millennium Writings, Bloom, Two Hawks Quarterly, Evening Street Review, Naugatuck River Review, Soundings Review, Off the Rocks, Paper Street, and others. A chapbook is forthcoming from Seven Kitchens Press.
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