ISSUE: Spring 2015
1.
The grapes are as round,
as smooth as beads
a child might string together
and wear like pearls
around her neck.
2.
Asleep for years
in the barrel: a dark purple sea
with no tide, only the slow
invisible change from prose
to poetry.
3.
Syrah…Pinot Noir…
Chardonnay…
Voluptuous sound of a cork
surrendering.
4.
The answer
to every question:
Intoxication.
5.
The vintner is old now,
shriveled and small.
In the lush air, sour-sweet
hint of raisins.