The Absinthe Parlor

Hyssop and wormwood. A riverine green. 
Angelica archangelica's winged 

Leaf -- or is it the root? -- perfects our doom 
Liqueur. Two cubes melt through a silver spoon 

Under her slow pour: ice water blushing 
Celadon and veils of jade. Here's to love -- 

Indolence smooths the cream room to a clerk's 
Nude dream. My bitter, third glass. After-work 

Angst, all the old loneliness warms. Even 
The angels return, their sad faces dimmed 

In pleats of coy maids, diaphanous through 
Osmic dragonflies' pneumal bluebuzz -- no, 

No, more. Cordial pours me she elixir -- 
Sylph. Bell. Absinthe wakes the heart-grown wonder . . . 
 

 


Poem, Copyright 2001,  Jeff Crandall Sunlight through Alder 
Image Copyright 2001,  Pamela Moore Dionne


Jeff Crandall is a poet and artist living in Seattle. His book, The Grief Pool, won a 1999 King County Arts Award. His poems have appeared in The Seattle Review, Cream City Review and other journals. He is a founding editor of Floating Bridge Press

The Absinthe Parlor is an acrostic sonnet (10 syllables per line, rhyme scheme, 14 lines, the first letter of each line combining to form a word ).

Pamela Moore Dionne studied painting through the University of Alaska Extension in Ketchikan, Alaska and with Mel Wallace at Olympic College.  She is the founder and managing editor of Literary Salt which can be found online at www.literarysalt.com.
 
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