Mixed Signals

video: Mixed Signals
video of Marilyn Taylor's poem, Mixed Signals

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Mixed Signals

                            Anapests and iambs create rising rhythms, while trochees
                            and dactyls undercut them by falling.
                                                                                             —Prosody handbook

At the crest of spring,
                                    something hesitates:
the magnolias droop—
                                      petals, browbeaten
by relentless rain,
                              sink lethargically
to the short-haired lawn
                                       spackling all of it
with unlikely snow—
                                  pudgy, oversized
imitation flakes
                          manufacturing
their erotic stench,
                                thick and buttery
in the scented air—
                                  bawdy  versions of
the genteel clichés
                                May is famous for.

It’s a fact, my love:
                                 rose and hyacinth
are a mere excuse,
                                 just an overture
to the main event,
                              what we’re falling for
at the crest of spring.