Swallow

Would you believe
how many years I

spent writing about
flowers trying to write

about the vulva the
clitoris mine or hers

or simply the as in
nonspecific and worshipable?

I told my friend I
wanted to write about

variegated monstera but
perhaps I intended to

write about photographs
of nude models.

On any given day I
might have walked through

a door set a bell ringing
bought the tallest one

in a rounded clay
pot the 20” x 24” black

and white still unframed.
I might have paid

clumsily prayed the
grime under my thumbnail

went unnoticed swallowed my
greed like a pearl a penny

a pear seed wondered how
many days and nights

it would hold a space
inside me.

By Caroline Taylor

Biography:

Caroline Taylor is currently an undergraduate at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. She is pursuing degrees in creative writing and communication. Her work has appeared previously in Windfall, Fiction Fogey, The Scarlet Leaf Review, and Storm Cellar.