apricots

sepia haze at 6am we went
up in a hot air balloon
shhh...listen. can you hear that?

the sounds of stranger's lucid dreams
soft and silky as though whispered across a lake
articulate and tender we swim through the sky
time to wake up, open your eyes
a cloud kisses your cheek as we rise
my hands, clammy from a cooled off sky

we float down into the crevasse
monuments greet us -

"good morning, we've been patiently waiting
for centuries.
we're ash and lava that once held churches
once held wine, once held societies"

sepia turns bright blue as we climb
out of the crevasse back into the sky
the fields perched atop the monument stones
a strange vantage point, a cadaver of the earth

time to come back down
apricot groves erupt from the ground to greet us

nectarous constellations

I leap out of the basket and into the clutches
of a silky orb plucked off the tree
my teeth seep into the floral fuzzy skin
into the juicy flesh, and can taste

the sun

the morning dew chill

the impossibility

that nature can hold a glass of the most beautiful
nectar in a vessel at once ordinary and opulent

sepia haze at 6am we went
and I can still taste it.