Gold Leaf, by Marilyn McCabe

Book of Hours, circa 1430. Western medieval manuscripts.

Gold Leaf
 
Audacious to lure the eye
from the holy hours to the hungry
vine, fruits entangle, gleam,
name the edge, the end
of words, begin: A
absorbed by acanthus,
apples, a monk with an ax,
Anthony atop a demon,
what grows given half a chance,
a thumbnail of dirt, as every wall
succumbs to hunger, will fall
to the wrenching or amorous arms
wrought by a seed.

Marilyn McCabe
​
Marilyn McCabe’s book of poems Glass Factory was published by The Word Works in 2016. Her poem “On Hearing the Call to Prayer Over the Marcellus Shale on Easter Morning” was awarded A Room of Her Own Foundation’s Orlando Prize. Her book of poetry Perpetual Motion was published by The Word Works in 2012 as the winner of the Hilary Tham Capitol Collection contest. A grant from the New York State Council on the Arts resulted in videopoem "At Freeman's Farm," which was published on The Continental Review and Motion Poems. She blogs about writing and reading at marilynonaroll.wordpress.com.