Red Isis

Poetry winner

Beloved, you've revealed

yourself in reds.   I reel

in your ripe exuberance

that ambushes my senses.

When I was becoming

a young man, burgundy

pursued me everywhere

till I wore that wine sweater

all winter like an ensign.

At my middle age you're sun,

next door's rooster, mars, fox,

sweat lodge fires, four o'clocks,

and an Irish linen shirt woven

from cinnabar and vermillion.

Kurt Van Wilt, husband and father, publishes poetry, prose and plays. His book, The Teachings of Joseph Rael, is due from Council Oaks Books later this year. He teaches writing and Native American Literature at Saint Leo University.

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