Portrait of heart as gypsum rose
It shores in a southerly
seam of coral
Perhaps it has seen a long
desert stretch and stars cut
into reliquary stillness
It came by post
wrapped in blue paper
and I held it in hands
struck by its integrity
by its corrugated
and steep passes
Just then discerning
my desire
shuts on nothing
Joseph Spece is founding editor and publisher at SHARKPACK Poetry Review and SPR Annual. His public honors in poetry include a Ruth Lilly Fellowship, artist fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Corrente Prize in Poetry from Columbia University. His first book of poems, Roads (Cherry Grove), appeared in 2013. Spece’s recent and forthcoming publications include: DIAGRAM, Hypocrite Reader, Berfrois, AGNI, Cartridge Lit, and Salamander. He maintains a speculative column on animal being at Noble / Gas Qtrly, and can be found online at: joseph-spece.com.