Lovers
You’ve burned your bush,
now look to mine—and I’m
the guilty party? Najash
winds amidst my fruits,
snaking star-
burst to the heavens. My angel,
nor in the mist, the common
gloss, Know the taste
of mine own hunger.1
Between us lies
a mount of hope, O
innocence, deserving
paradise. The garden
of eating spreads
like coverts, banquet
unabashed before
my glory. Boy,
you or no One made me—
I burst full formed feral
from that flock, all
furtive untamed blossoms.
1 The lines “nor in the mist, the common gloss” and “O innocence / Deserving paradise” is from Milton’s “Paradise
Lost” (1663) when Eve sets a banquet for Adam and the angel Raphael in the Garden of Eden.
2 The term “Garden of Eating” is derived from Michael Schoenfeldt’s Bodies and Selves in Early Modern England
(2000).
King of Pentacles
I wash my garments in wine,
robes in the blood
of grapes, scrub a smudge
of excrement away & for what?1,2
Oenology.3 You beg, Come,
to terroir, reign
over us.4 I shall, & when
I arrive, I will surely consume
you all.6 Mouth-feel: your flavors,
most haunting and brilliant
and thrilling and subtle and
ancient
on the planet …5
Be not afraid, beasts
of the field, for my pastures
of wilderness do spring6
relentless. I am the true
vitis in noble
rot. My father is husband-
man, my mother (vine
of my blood) done planted
me here by waters.7 Abide in me,
as I in you, for without me
you are nothing—ullage.8 You,
thin-skinned, temperamental, ripened
too early. Why can’t you thrive
when neglected? You …
and your constant need
for care and attention.9 See?
Right there. That’s beautiful, quaffable,
so far from transcendence.10
1 Genesis 49:11 reads, “he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes.”
2 “Smudge of excrement” is said by the character Miles in Sideways, credited to Charles Bukowski.
3 Judges 9: 13 reads, “Come thou, and reign over us”
4 Jeremiah 8:13 read, “I will surely consume them, saith the LORD:”
5 The character Miles from Sideways (2004) says of Pinot, “I mean, oh its flavors, they’re just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and… ancient on the planet.”
6 Joel 2:22 reads, “Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring”
7 Ezekiel 19:10 reads,” Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters”
8 John 15:1, 4 reads, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Abide in me, and I in you … for without me you can do nothing.”
9 Lines x – x are a paraphrase of the famed monologue from Miles in Sideways.
10 The last three lines are a paraphrased exchange between Sideways characters Jack and Miles.
Jessica Doe, PhD is a queer Aniyunwiya (Cherokee Nation) writer, artist, and scholar. Her work centers on Indigeneity, decolonization, and reclamation. Learn more at www.thischerokeerose.com.