Two Poems by Nichole Cloke

Nichole Cloke
The Consummation of All Things 

1. Just as the desert’s suncup 
       on the sill must contend 
   to never drink the morning dew, 
       you, too, must contend 
   to never touch your own disguise. 

2. The pit must never 
       consummate with its own 
   peach. It is unnatural as 
       an itch that disappears. 

3. Thinking the moon is shaped 
       as a brass sickle sword 
   is indicative of a terrible fever. 
       Seek help from someone foolish 
   and unafraid to claim the moon is 
       white, even whilst it is listening. 



Origin of Memory 

The ocean believes 
it was born from the first rainfall. 
But the cicada thinks 
it appeared when the forest 
learned to echo. 
The mushroom accuses the vulture, 
likewise the vulture blames the mushroom. 
The the eager honey bee 
does not believe in memory. 

The Scientists do not know what 
to believe, watching the mouth 
of ancient repetition. 
Rise fantastic re-creation! 
Hewn and flung from 
the mother gum, you are 
the secondborn atom.