Tiger Lilies

Like King David, they have drunk
the wine of astonishment.

Mouths open wide,
they lean toward me in this alley,
swearing the world is good,

that it is easy to live
on fire, unnoticed,
and do nothing but praise.

(This was first published in Lake Effect and is one of the poems in my chapbook,
Blue-flowered Sundress, and in my full-length collection, Rain, Lilies, Luck.)