Summer Poems by Phoebe Brown

Sea Trees

Have you ever
watched trees? The way
they move
like sea anemones
in a current. Leaves
and branches bend
to fit the curvature
of land and sea
wind.
They are the sedentary
ballerinas
beneath waves
and into
skies. Storms
cast the coral
and shift the sand;
Still they
create beauty
in each obsidian landscape.
They clean the air
so that sound waves
can reach our ears.
White, red, purple, and
green arms
dotted with fish
and bird color
the sea and land worlds
to delight our eyes.

Silver Dusk

I miss
the feeling of wings
cutting
the silver dusk. Over my shoulder
they hush
this hooting world
to sleep.

A firefly’s abdomen glows and fades
the way dreams do.

There is
so much light
in darkness. I prefer

the sound
of cicadas in oaks, owls and night
air, and bioluminescent imaginings.

Phoebe Brown attends the University of Tampa’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Healing Muse and Touch: The Journal of Healing. She is a Florida native who finds inspiration in nature and its workings. Her poem Plainchant Home was published in Deep South in April.