Thank you for the little red boats 
you have placed on my papers to skim 
like swans across the print-pocked surface 
of a student’s vocabulary worksheet, 
each petal a deep red flaring out 
from the wedge where a stamen extends 
inward like a tiller. I imagine riding 
in this tiny bark, idylling on the silky cerise 
of its hull. The rest of the tulips remain 
in their Valentine’s vase, withering 
beautifully and dropping more petals 
onto the sea of the cluttered oak table; 
I think of the view you told me greeted you 
in the still-dark morning when one ray of sun 
reached in through the window to touch 
the flowers awake, and how lovely they were 
there, looking fresh as though just-picked, 
preening in dawn’s approving gaze. 

Tamara Madison

is the author of the chapbook The Belly Remembers and two full-length volumes of poetry, Wild Domestic and Moraine, all published by Pearl Editions. Her most recent chapbook, On the Fault Line, was released in March by Picture Show Press. Her full-length poetry collection Morpheus Dips His Oar is forthcoming from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. Her work has appeared in Chiron Review, The Worcester Review, A Year of Being Here, ONE ART, The Writer’s Almanac, and many other publications.

A swimmer, dog lover, and native of the southern California desert, Ms. Madison has recently retired from teaching English and French in a Los Angeles high school. Read more about her at:
https://tamaramadisonpoetry.com