Springtime over Sehome

Sky, blue like electricity

shoves out sulking clouds

and suspends in the stage above

I look up

just soon enough to see wrathful cloud banks

crawling, clawing,

their way back into the sky

Then

         “Pit”

                      “Pat”

rain gently knocking on windows

Then

         “Bom”

                       “Bang”

                                    rain knocking down doors.

and so the students zip up dark jackets,

slip on patterned boots,

preparing for battle

only to step out under blue.

Under the blue (and grey)

the flowers bloom

petals unfolding,

pollen dripping into the air.

Under the blue

legs and shoulders bare

tattoos unearthed

bright fabrics, floral patterns

tattoos unearthed

legs and shoulders bare.

and so, as if to fit some code,

I lay, belly pressed into sticky leather,

In a room that smells of sharp antiseptic,

with fake flames splashed onto the walls

I lay and a needle, buzzing like a frantic wasp,

bites at my flesh,

outlines of those soft petals unfolding on my shoulder

those dying petals

                        falling

                                          down

                                                   my

                                                                  back

                        caught in a moment of beginning and end.

and so while springtime in Sehome

            bursts

                        and

scatters

                away….

those flowers and that sky

echo in my skin.