When dark’s hinged lid

closes, bend my

fingers round this spray –

dyers’ crook –

 

the violet scent

my guide through starless

tropic. Perennial

verb, turn

 

your visage to

the vacanted sun. Many-

tongued, pray do

what I never – pray

 

do as I have done – yes

gather me

sprig and stem

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rebecca Dunham is the author of two books of poetry, The Flight Cage and The Miniature Room. "Heliotrope" is from her new collection, Fascicle, available for purchase through Dancing Girl Press at http://dulcetshop.ecrater.com/p/16311191/fascicle-rebecca-dunham. Dunham is the recipient of an NEA Fellowship and her poems have appeared in Colorado Review, AGNI, Prairie Schooner, The Antioch Review, and FIELD. She is an associate professor at the University of WI-Milwaukee.