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Sarah A. Etlinger
​
Persephone's Lament, Early Spring


I cannot think with all this color
burning around me.

A pyre of yellow forsythia
swallows its branches.

Scarlet tulips flame out of the earth;
amber carp swim

under the black water
like sparks under a kettle.

The rosy magnolia still smolders
after the morning's bleached fog dissipates.

Even in the narrow bands of blue
before the moon ignites,

the heavy gray of smoke
burns my nose.

I open the window
to let the air in.
​
It is not color I hate, but its dying.





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Sarah A. Etlinger is an English professor who lives in Milwaukee, WI, with her family. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, she is the author of three books. You can find more of her work in Pank!, SWWIM, FEED Literary, and others. 
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