Faux fur—
homely as a house.

It’s that odd
the paradox
of inside and outside.

Your belly grew round with dew
created a glossary of seeds
like rings of colored glass.

Green Sunshine,
the god who loves you
confidently wielded the crayon.

If the meek deserve
a form of comfort,
you would know.

Cento Sources: Suzanne Buffam, Marianne Moore, Cedar Sigo, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Pattiann Rogers, Pablo Neruda, Catherine Bowman, Leonore Hildebrandt, Don Kubicki, Carl Dennis, Louise Gluck, Evan Kennedy, Denise Levertov, Marvin Bell

From Honey from the Sun, Patrice Boyer Claeys and Gail Goepfert, Blurb.com, 2020.

First published in The Night Heron Barks, Fall 2020.