The Pulse of the Bluegill in the Thawing Lake by Dana Delibovi

rippled water 
                        waits 
for 
frost 
             over blood 
                                  in the star-crusted 
                                                                darkness 

clear craters of the moon            muscle cells             green grassy banks
                          constrict
                                      release 
                                                   constrict                   stubborn 
                                                                                                  Being 

on unlit roads 
           acorns ping                  prodded 
                                    from oak branches 
                        by embryonic buds 

                                                  midnight spreads 
a tablecloth 
             with white cups 
                         of hot milk                 the miracle is 
                                                                      that anything ever dies

Dana Delibovi is a poet, essayist, and translator. Her work has recently appeared in After the Art, Apple Valley Review, Bluestem, The Confluence, Ezra Translations, Linden Avenue, Noon, and Zingara Poetry Review. In 2020, Delibovi received a Pushcart Prize nomination. She is consulting poetry editor at Witty Partition.