"Plate with Plums & Morello Cherries"-Juan Van der Hamen

Poem: Alisoun’s Trip

Plum juice courses from her lips,

Stained with a kiss,

Her fingers sticky,

Purple, red, royal in sustenance,

In the orchards,

Weaving in and out of trees .

The play of desire,

Wind chimes and flowers,

Freshly baked bread.

Alisoun investigates the planetary hours

In the clerk’s bed.

Sunset echoes ripe plums

Her table stirring sweetness

Folding into musky air,

Starched linen collars,

Polished wood under candle glow.