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MERGE LITERARY MAGAZINE
FLORA

By Tamara J. Madison

​For them noosed and strung
from your withering family tree,
catching searing razor or metallic seed
between jewels, teeth or spleen,
crosses aflame upon the scars of their backs--
with one blink of the sun,
stars shed their skins
instead of tears.
The sloughs slip      
among the heavenly bodies,
drift on crippled winds, wriggle
through the whimpering willows’ leaves,
land softly on a regiment
of weeds bending
to bear them as honors
before they slip again
to hardened soil yet fecund
with prophecy.
 
Titanium threads root,
silver stems ascend,
concrete contracts, splits
as copper waters birth
crowning heads
of cast iron roses.




  • HOME ISSUE #3
  • Mission and Content
  • About US
  • POETRY AND PROSE
  • BLACK MUSIC PHOTO ESSAY
  • ESSAYS ARTICLES AND FICTION
  • VISUAL ART GALLERY
  • BIOGRAPHIES
  • SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
  • Support Merge Literary Magazine
  • ISSUE #2 CELEBRATING BLACK WOMEN
  • FEATURED WRITERS AND ARTISTS
  • MERGE LITERARY MAGAZINE PRINT EDITION
  • Mission and Content
  • About US
  • POETRY
  • ESSAYS ARTICLES AND FICTION
  • Multimedia Art Review
  • PHOTOGRAPHY CELEBRATING BLACK WOMEN
  • ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
  • WRITERS AND ARTISTS BIOS
  • SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
  • ISSUE #1 POLITICAL AFFAIRS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
    • Mission and Content
    • About US
    • POETRY
    • PROSE
    • ART ILLUSTRATION
    • ESSAYS AND PLAY
    • MULTI-MEDIA QUILT REVIEW
    • WRITERS AND ARTISTS BIOS
    • SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
    • Support Merge Literary Magazine