Poetry

by Tyler Friend

His Ex & Tea 

after H.D.’s “His Ecstasy” 

He was yours, but now 

I mine him. He is my quarry 

& his sides rise with each tremor, struggling 

& wet with the green stone-melt 

scented green & pitiable. You are a fir tree 

trying to find some loam 

in these fields no longer fields. This 

is no longer a place 

for singing & satyrs, but 

I mine him, mix & wine him. 

A Leggy Churro 
after H.D.’s “Elegy and Choros” 

My heart grows & now 

it’s too late. I can’t hate. Love, 

when you came, the whole earth was aflame. 

I’m sayin’ you were hot. 

Every hill like your bush. I blushed. You

rose, rose, rose. O Rhododendron, O 

Mama, I’ll ride you until 

I’m broken, no inner-inner petal 

left unplucked. 

Lace 
after H.D.’s “Lais” 

Let her walk on the glass, into 

the mirror. Let her frost like fruit, an apple 

sitting on a leaf. Gilt veins mirroring her 

flamethrower heart. Lustrous white, white 

forehead, dark veins a deep, deep 

purple, a dark flower. 

About the Author

Tyler Friend is an apricot/human hybrid grown in Tennessee. Their work has appeared in Tin House, Hobart, Hunger Mountain, and elsewhere. Tyler edits the online poetry magazine Francis House and design for Eulalia Books. Tyler’s website is https://tylerfriend.ink,