H e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i v e s E d i t i o n

DAVID COPE

The Rhododendron

for Suzy––“let’s be famous lovers”

sunlight thru an open door,

crimson blooms swelling to burst:

who can say

what love is? you take a friend

in hand & roar down blind road after blind road

wandering thru private rooms

in each other’s hearts, sailing thru whole histories

of pain & rage to find

a quiet morning, dew on the laurel leaves. love is not

in the eyes, in the heart, in the entryways

& hotspots of flesh, in heavy breathing––love cannot be

contained in soft arias

whispered at dawn––it is neither two together

nor apart: the eye

is in the hand, the heart in the eye,

the song exhaled & inhaled

& suddenly your dreams fill rooms where others

pace & sing softly of wht you were––

O love,

steady rain on the city of the dead,

teardrop on a granite peak, clear day,

angel ghosts circling

the flowering black oak in every long-gone summer

night full of thunder,

sunlight thru an open door,

crimson blooms swelling to burst.