flowers, a poem

She brought me flowers wrapped in purple tissue
And brown paper
With oatmeal yarn
Tied in a bow
The loops proportionate to the hanging string
They smelled like summer
Like chasing brothers
And brothers chasing butterflies
And eating lemons
Pierced with peppermint
The white of afternoon clouds
The smell of chlorine on your skin
After several hours of pretending to be a starfish
The crayfish creek
The tree branches that look like fireworks
The murmur of insects
The swirls of dwindling sunlight
And the shimmer of a shy moon