Every clove’s / a cradle (Pxhere)

Your forearm-long
brown leaves flop
and I dig you up, 

Roots and all
and all in all

vellum skinned
knuckle bulb

little fist
belonging

in my hand,
take me where

grandmother
reaches down—

every clove’s
a cradle

John Martone is the author of of Giovanni Pascoli: O Little One and Selected Poems, which appeared earlier this year from Laertes Books. His most recent collection of poems is Homelands, and he is currently translating the letters and writings of the anchoress Nazarena of Jesus, OSB.

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