The Mouth of a Tiger Lily

Once drenched 
by ferocious rains, 
steeping in sealable, 
blood orange petals

with dimples of pepper
corn spots on the skin,
in a milk pale vase, in 
a country kitchen in the fall

drawn from the soil forever, 
forced by the tamed winds 
to grow prostrate, there is 
a morbid hiddenness lurking inside

George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat ReviewMoria Poetry JournalChronogram JournalAmpersand Literary ReviewThe Angle at St. John Fisher College, and 3:16 Journal. George’s blogs, essays and letters have appeared in USA TodayThe Wall Street JournalThe AtlanticHavana TimesSouth China Morning PostThe Buffalo News, and more. 

See all his poems on Tea House here.

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