I am a blushing bride
of transmutation, dewy-skinned
for a new reason

blanketed by the same layer
of lush, laden air
my lover fended me off from

when my palm relished
her intermittently luscious biosphere
I am a hothouse orchid

trembling on its stem
catch me ever
paying for a sauna again

Tricia Dearborn

From the sequence ‘The change: some notes from the field’.

Tricia Dearborn’s poetry has been widely published in literary journals and is represented in major anthologies including Contemporary Australian Poetry and Australian Poetry since 1788. She is on the editorial board of Plumwood Mountain, and was guest poetry editor for the February 2016 issue. Her most recent collection is The Ringing World.

© 2017