Cacti

The cacti only cry at night

as a protection from water

loss / she wonders how the cacti

learned to not swallow the scorching sun

opening the stomata-safe

in the coolness of the night / photo

synthesizing sentence syntax

protecting its words in the day –

yet here she’s crying in the sun /

between the searching tongue and thirst

for tears, is forgetting the sound

or what makes up sound / feel the scorch

erase your thirst of the word / burning

taste-buds / where all you do is search

trying to remember taste before

the sun / a burning tongue / day-tears