by Erika Luckert

When it rains, bloom waxy crystals on the cuticle of a leaf.

When the fertilizers wash in from the fields, bloom algal.

Bloom the slag and iron in the midst of being wrought.

Study coffee grounds or gelatin in water.

When making arrangements, consider color, scale, the life

expectancy of each bloom, their vessel.

Most flowers are imaginary. Somewhere below the surface of Turner’s oil seas

zinc turns to soap and blooms the crests of waves.

Bloom by folding small, syndrome of chromosomes fragmented

while the cancers grow.

Given phosphate, given water, fog, smoke, heat, dust.

In certain seasons, jellyfish bloom and gather.

______________________________________________________________________

Erika Luckert is a poet, writer, and educator. Her work has appeared in Denver Quarterly, Indiana Review, CALYX, Tampa Review, Boston Review, and elsewhere. A graduate of Columbia University’s MFA in Poetry, Erika has taught creative and critical writing at public schools and colleges across New York City. In 2017, she was awarded the 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize. Originally from Edmonton, Canada, Erika is currently a PhD student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.