Cloaked as
they are
in
the dark leaves
of
secrecy

snow white
bells
quiver—
a drift of wind
touching the little flaring flowers.

When I was a child
they spoke to me
of something small—

milky expression
of
my mother’s pearls

bud like a fist
of one
shy
girl.

Cento Sources: Joseph O. Legaspi, Juliana Spahr, Andrew Hudgins, Edythe Parody, Jana Prikryl, G. O. Warren, Katherine Riegel, Tom Boggs, Sidney Wade, Henry Taylor, Ester Lin, Grace Stone Coates, Yves Bonnefoy, Joe Wilkins, Elise Paschen, Jack Kerouac, Ryan Teitman, Emily Skillings, Adrie Rose, Jai Waetford, Eve Alexandra