Middle-Aged, We Re-landscape with Century Plants

By Christa Fairbrother

Blind, as a tick hovers for its next meal,

I hunger after you, leap to your smell,

butyric acid mouth mouth-watering

fine wine and cheese. Sounds sexy, scandalous

in a tent, but thrashing, flopping, we tire

of the struggle, surrender to mummied

sleep. It reminds me of drive-in summers.

A couch in the truck bed, popcorn bucket

tailgating with a broken speaker, ad-

libbed all the actor's lines, charming, young,

witty, until we ran out of hot air.

We're greenhouse flowers at heart. Dark, steamy

nights, a singing full moon soundtrack, perfect

seasons are what we need to pollinate.

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Christa Fairbrother, MA, has had poetry in Arc, Epiphany, Pleiades, and Salamander, among others. Currently, she’s Gulfport, Florida’s poet laureate, and she’s been a finalist for the Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize, The Prose Poem Competition, The Pangea Prize, and was a Pushcart Prize nominee. Connect with her on Bluesky, @christafairbrother.