Second-one,
smaller than the pea beneath the princess,
you toss-and-turn me,
my sleep lost in the branches of your mustard-seed-tree
just sprouting around the trunks of my aorta.
There are so many places to spread your leafy-you
inside this insomnious greenhouse.
Greedy for growth, you’ll take them all.
For now, the world twines through my breath;
your father and sister sleep,
dreaming of roots and weather.
Sage Graduate Fellow of Cornell University (MFA) and Director of Creative Writing and Professor of English at Lock Haven University, Marjorie Maddox has published Local News from Someplace Else (Wipf & Stock 2013); Weeknights at the Cathedral (WordTech Editions 2006); and three more books and five chapbooks. She is the co-editor of Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania and author of two children’s books. The recipient of numerous honors, including Pushcart Prize nominations in poetry and fiction, Marjorie lives with her husband and two children in Williamsport, PA. For more info please see www.marjoriemaddox.com