A Curious Moon

By Cassandra Whitaker

What good is celebration without flowers?
summer addresses gardenia—yarrow–lilies
—lavender—lilac—heliotrope–heather
—the air cures our appetites
until the feast — Then ales—roasts—cakes
—vices Summer’s hidden addresses Buttered bread
—spiced meat–whipped milk-–cream

Beyond the bride— her wife groom to be—a king for the day
in lavender—lilac—suited to the nines and crowned
with eucalyptus blooms ready to lead
with sure feet—What good is celebration
without flowers? Summer’s addresses
Beyond celebrants–beyond sky’s advices— love joins love
without crisis What is bound is bound with wedding’s addresses
laughter dancing chatter –clapping clapping

Someone collapses with joy Another from sorrow What good
is love if it doesn’t hurt? How else does one measure
love’s day to day pleasures? After all else ages–weathers
How else does one measure love? Did they go apart?
Did they stay together?

Cassandra Whitaker (she/they) is a writer who lives in rural Virginia. Whit’s work has been published in Michigan Quarterly Review, Conjunctions, The Mississippi Review, Shenandoah, Lambda Literary Review and other places. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and an educator. Wolf Devouring A Wolf Devouring A Wolf, their first collection, was published by Jackleg Press in 2025. wolfs-den.page