Poetry

Herbs of the Earth

 

The book on your shelf called Herbs of the Earth implies the existence of herbs of the sky, of the sea.

Mars, Jupiter

 

What do you like about plants, to have so many books on them? Do you like that they keep finding new ones? 

 

I like the way they spring up in the rocks and between sidewalk cracks. Language 

fails in the face of so much enthusiasm.

 

Your books talk about the desert,

about sand, harsh and unforgiving,

until our knees buckle that the cactus keeps forgiving and forgiving.

 

Don’t you think it proves– on mountainsides, underwater, underground– 

that life is showing off? That it enjoys this? That if there were herbs on Mars,

it would be because they wanted to be there?

 

Rachele Merliss
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Rachele Merliss is a queer writer and youth services librarian living in Austin, Texas. Her work has been published in What Did You See? from Wesleyan University, and Bust Magazine.