Two phases of summer

by Mark Mahemoff

The Jacaranda’s sudden petal eruption
ices cars and spatters streets blue/purple.
The memory of their gorgeousness
outlasts this fleeting flowering
and sad return to nakedness.

                 *

The yellows, whites and pinks of Frangipani
emerge with carnal fragrance
and snapped branch white blood
dripping stickily.

Though soon enough
they become mush underfoot,
their skeleton’s left standing,
succulent and bare.

This poem is a public submission created for Red Room Poetry's New Shoots digital poetry anthology.