Maia Zelkha

Ether of Flowers

again I have plucked fluorescing 
laceleaf from the ground, 
for my transgressions 

I have plucked jacaranda 
from Yunnan morning glories 
from Jerusalem 

I have walked and I have crawled 
on bruised hips hallowed 
with your name 

through trampled lavender 
and sage in shavasana 
and cotton a man picked 

with the calloused hands 
of his father and grandfather,
I have seen the oaks bloom 

with sap and the poppies 
shiver with both delight both 
with fear of being plucked, 

the rice rise from paddies 
like false messiahs 
their stems outstretched 

reaching for a place 
without form 
without light 

the ether between joints 
the ether between planets 
the ether blossoms 

with yarrow and cornflower 
the ether between pistil and petal 
stamen and sepal golden 

pollen and wind 
again, I have scattered the seeds 
of solitude of sorrow 

I have gathered and dried 
piles and piles of wreaths that pile 
into hedges 

aimlessly, I have walked 
through mazes made of wreaths 
and I believe 

there is an ether 
there is an ether between 
the hedges of a maze 


Maia Zelkha is currently an undergraduate at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is passionate about history, literature, language, spirituality, and her Iraqi-Jewish background. Her work has been published in Blind Corner Magazine and JLiving Media.