on jalapeño hot nights
I sometimes open a window,
to hear a single rhythmic croak
as if every cricket were sleeping.
somewhere, gardens of peppers
collaborate with volcanoes
& the sun to keep
me burning, breathless,
when the gauzy call of the night owl
soughs & hangs in the air
like a kiss, I may not remember
that owls hunt their prey
at night, or, in the market I may forget
the threat & burn of jalapeños, their lustrous red
pods, like desire, woven in garlands
to lure us. oh, the beauty of the fire,
the tempting songs of night.
Carol Lynne Knight is the co-director of Anhinga Press, where she designs covers and text, and edits books. She is the co-editor of Snakebird: Thirty Years of Anhinga Poets. Her book of poetry A Fretted Terrain, Like Mars is forthcoming in February 2019. Her first book of poetry Quantum Entanglement was published by Apalachee Press in 2010. Her poetry has appeared in Louisiana Literature, Tar River Review, Poetry Motel, Earth’s Daughters, The Ledge, Slipstream, Broome Review, J, Comstock Review, Northwest Florida Review, Epicenter, Redactions, Iconoclast, Epicenter, HazMat, So to Speak and in the anthologies Off the Cuffs (Soft Skull Press), Touched by Eros (Live Poets Society), The Poets Guide to the Birds (Anhinga Press), Beloved on the Earth (Holy Cow! Press), and North of Wakulla (Anhinga Press). She lives in Tallahassee, Florida.
Appears In
Cagibi Issue 9
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