By: Linda M. Crate

nature proposed to me with a rose
and i said yes
for she smells sweeter than
the lies you drink so heavily of
her musk finer than
cologne shuddering confessions of lust
silk softer than the sudden jerk
of your arms twitching
independence
from mine; she never woke up one morning
and decided that she wanted to sever
her romance from me, and she never told me
i needed to lose weight or pluck hairs
or that my fingernails were claws —
you unleash the harpy in me,
screeching for blood to be spilled into the dew
of every morning
she reminds me to swallow the spikes of my temper
for their thorns will only cut me into entropy
of my own devising;
nature proposed to me with a rose and i said yes
because i couldn’t wait forever for you.