Luke Johnson
Image by Danielle Dolson on Unsplash                                      
Luke Johnson lives on the California coast with his wife and three kids. His poems can be found at Kenyon ReviewFlorida ReviewNarrativeCortland ReviewThrushPaletteNimrod, and elsewhere.
Larkspur 


Just when 
I think 
the sky 

has sloughed 
its skin

so that breath 
becomes untenable, 

a hummingbird 
stabs

the bluest 
blossom, swivels 
its beak to sate. 

Behind the feeder
my daughter 
spins 

with both palms 
raised, psalms 
the blanched sky 

Rain

She's been 
doing this for hours. 

Rain

Slaps a stick 
to shriveled squash 

to watch 
its insides seep, 

and swears 
that when 
the aphids’ plume, 

they pop 
like peppered corn.  

Love, I say 

and she stops, 
comes closer:

scribbles her name
on freckled window, spits 
then smears it away. 

Come inside

To which 
she nods no. 

To which 
she calls down 
braids of bees 

to interstate beauty
and bear it. 

I am speaking 
of sorrow. 

Of a hummingbird
working
rapid wings

in search 
of just a sip, 

and this little 
girl, dizzy, pulling 
up brick, 

begging 
for larkspur
mint. 




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