THIS IS WHAT I WANT & THIS MEADOW

by Despy Boustris

Art by Alex Kovacs

THIS IS WHAT I WANT

after Holly Prado

uprooted trees

filled with Earth’s art,

music notes in each particle

of long-forgotten wood. more:

answers. souls existing

then and now and forever.

desire. birdsong. poets

fossilizing warmth

and death’s descent. dust.

cypresses breaking

into wholeness

and me? mending.

green growing despite burning

red. sound branding the atmosphere.

a dog howling a song.

---

THIS MEADOW

By Despy Boutris

is a fading light cymbals crashing

is birds circling the sun daylight turning to wound

is a catch of breath voice’s distant echo

is fading constellations a city-wide power outage

is another species going extinct another night asleep in wheat

another night fading into bruise-like hues

Despy Boutris's writing has been published or is forthcoming in Copper Nickel, Ploughshares, Crazyhorse, American Poetry Review, The Gettysburg Review, Colorado Review, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere. Currently, she teaches at the University of Houston and serves as Poetry Editor for Gulf Coast, Guest Editor for Palette Poetry and Frontier, and Editor-in-Chief of The West Review.

Art by Alex Kovacs