There is a tonic fragrance to the morning.
Wet earth elates, insatiable with ardor.
Late stars of dew
like water we’ve been born in—
new tendrils,
thorns—
veronica our garden.
Each blossom in its fullness loses balance.
Whole scalloped columns of plush leaves lapse dull
and settle downward from embowerments.
A crush of petals browns,
cascades,
and falls.
Will Cordeiro has published work in 32 Poems, AGNI, Bennington Review, Best New Poets, Copper Nickel, Pleiades, and The Threepenny Review. Will authored Trap Street (Able Muse, 2021) and Whispering Gallery (DUMBO Press, forthcoming 2024) and co-authored Experimental Writing: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2024). Will received an MFA and Ph.D. from Cornell University. Will co-edits Eggtooth Editions and lives in Guadalajara, Mexico.