kiwi kill

1.

overnight the veil of green
curdles dries and drops
tons of leaves cast out
kiwi can't
stand 19 degree
frost
and the overreaching arboreal green
man addiction
has heaved
down
to earth


i test her
pearlescent green moons,
still hard rocks
soon to ripen
untouched by what
slaughtered
her chloroplasted
suncatching
sisters


plants are like us
will do many things
to ensure
the fruit
is more sturdy
than branch
and thrives



2.

twenty years ago
tomorrow
my wife died



cancer frost
instant wither

until you've seen how death
can reach out long fingers
grab and twist

you won't expect it,
to

be

plucked

from the vine of life

3.

once you've seen it,
again and then again,
again, and then again,
you hope for swiftness,
pray for blight or
quick
frost
kiwi kills
not longlinger
longsuffer


4.

so should i be glad
my best friend died
this year
relatively quickly?
am i searching for some spin
on misery?
what of the other side?  all i see
are those grim thin fingers
coming through the veil.

5.

once you've seen it
like slow shutter camera frames:

turn and run. pretend you don't know
what you can never again be free of.

we pray for space and grace
when we should
wish for company

and even now, the sudden sunset
freed by space
of kiwikill
through the leaf-free vines

so exquisite,
whole sky pink
i'd rather see the living leaves
caterwauling green
than this sudden
wideskyview

6.

i see them now,
the tangled, knotted vines
cleaving to magnolia branch,
threaded through walnut

their gnarl set off by sunset
deathgrip even here
kiwi vine emulating veil thin wraiths
when what i want
is grace
(is it?)
when what i want
is grace

(11-24-13)