Georgia in Taos, NM
Nice try
says the succulent’s skin
to the arid ground
as it falls and fashions
an investigation
to find the voice
that calls for water
for wings to welcome back
stiff spines and turgid thorns
that separate out
their being from their speech
and their speech from
getting involved
in arguments
that are drawn
from their wells:
do you want
to be healed?
Have you considered
answering that question
or will an angel come
once in a while
putting us into relationship
with weird notions
of etiolation
in dim light
doing it all
by yourself
and underlining
where we’ve gone too far
cutting ourselves off
from hearing the offer
from one who loves you.
Walking a few feet away
trying to listen
and get all the words down
without making dramatic
pacing patterns
from the center of the carpet
to its edges
from silence to announcement
to vowels and consonants
going back to the ruins:
if do what you will
is invented again
it’ll be what will you do?
Aaron Lelito is a writer and editor from Buffalo, NY. His micro-chapbook, Secret Meetings, was published by Ghost City Press in 2025, and his poetry collection, The Half Turn, was published in 2023. His work has also appeared in Sage Magazine, Door Is A Jar, Stonecoast Review, Barzakh, SPECTRA Poets, and Santa Fe Review. He is Editor in Chief of Wild Roof Journal.