hill ridges sprawling in lazy arcs contour cosmic breath.
unbeaten sky egg umbrellas lie over the park, blues
bleeding into candle flames with smooth faces above
green oceans of seaweed. sunburnt earth smells of
wild sage saltwater sea memories. cracked ceramics
of porcelain, vase fractured and glued together by rain.
desert soil intimidates infant plants, their stomata eyes
reaching for sunlight. champagne chandeliers of bird fur
hanging effortlessly. golden twilight silhouette forms
flow in the fading light, dark hum of night beneath feet
of wing rippling in the paradise of the guardians of hills
with gazes fixed on blade sound keepers from landscape vines.
olive coyotes howl from hills’ stony spines of cracked stone.
ancient oak weathered into craggy and stoic gnarled limbs
spiraling like veins of dark slate, spires of ochre tendons that
glimmer with the ghostly bronze glow of twilight.
silver coin dangles as sun-soaked clay wrinkles its skin.
sagebrush and wild fennel fill the low-lying valleys,
velvety purple blooms and distant fireflies twinkling
as glittering diamonds scattered across celestial thicket
of wildflowers: wild mustard musk of lavender and sleek
forms of coyotes darting through the brush against the chaparral,
hawked talons searching for prey among the tangled shrubs.
fibers veiled by the whispering wind undulated by prickly pear cactus.
pinpricks of light scatter-dance across a black velvet sky,
a sleek, sinewy smog-faced horizon of golds and oranges
the quiet splendor of silent trees in twilight’s faded blush
as the land sleeps beneath the moon’s watchful eye.
—
Jovina Zion Pradeep is the Youth Poet Laureate of Alameda County (2024-25), an editor at Blossomer Literary Magazine and at Polyphony Lit. Her poetry is forthcoming or published at The Wave, The Louisville Review, Tri City Voice, Moonstone Arts Center New Voices Anthology, San Francisco Youth Anthology, The Howl, SeaGlass Literary, and The Dungeness Press. When she is not writing or taking photographs, you can find her singing, reading mythology or listening to music.
