blossom

over night all
the flowering trees
seemed to bloom at once

whispering to each
other between thin
naked legs
the decided on 
the perfect moment 
to fill their shoulders
with sweet petals 

the air around them
always turns sugar

the bowl on the kitch
table at my parent's house 
i take a glossy handled spoon
& scoop miniature 
mountains in to a cool
glass of ice tea
until the glistening
sugar crystals start
to congregate at 
the bottom of the glass

the cherry blossoms 
spray clouds of perfume
to walk through

putting on their flamenco 
dresses & complimenting
each other's petal-full bodies

they make me miss 
my pink & blue short summer dress 

i don't miss
being a girl just 
the way the summer night
took care of me in that 
piece of clothing--

tree's gentle fingers 
adjusting the straps so
that my white bra wouldn't
peer out--

some cherry blossoms
are men 

they still burst together

they're not self conscious
about wearing dresses 
& tossing petals
like flower girls

i ask 
who is getting married?

they reply
who isn't?

when i was maybe six  
i was a flower girl 
& all i remember
is taking a handful of
rose petals & pressing
them up close to my face
& inhaling--

taking a handful i 
dropped them over my own head--
laughing years into 
another april 

& now i'm twenty-one &

i want the cherry blossoms
to marry me 

i don't have that dress anymore 

i'm thinking about
the opening day for softball
at the park

& how the dogwood's white
flowers fell like snow
on the ball field--

some younger kids opened
their mouths to catch petals as
if they were snow flakes

air honey sweet
i pulled clumps of
smashed white blossoms
from my short brown hair

today in the city
they came out like palm sunday 
the cherry blossoms
the dogwoods & a flirty magnolia
all pink & red lipped--

dropping themselves 
as i drove through-- petals
landing on the hood 
of my volvo

tonight maybe
they'll let me join them--

dress me in sugar cubes

lilting in the 
maroon haze of a glass
of iced tea--

marry me to the sidewalk