Roger Patulny

Miranda

You open an album
peel plastic off a memory of her spring dress
brocaded with precious elements there’s an
anklet aglitter as we two walked the fields
and wandered fingertips across the blue-red grapeshot of the merlot
glowing, young and ever thirsty

All that wine was not enough to save her
from the savagery of gardening
of afternoons where topiary gave way to
topped trees and leaves stirred like tea
darkened teal and a brown thickening
of felled roses mulched underfoot unshared

Roger Patulny is a Sydney-based academic, writer, and poet, and is the Chief Editor for Authora Australis. He has published fiction and poetry in numerous outlets including The Suburban Review, Cordite, Poets Corner InDaily, Dwell Time, The Rye Whisky Review, the Mark Literary Review, and Silver Birch Press. Twitter - @rpatulny