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Notes About The Poem

“Mistletoe Seller” image by Adrien Barrère

* Mistletoe grows on a wide range of host trees, some of which experience side effects including reduced growth, stunting, and loss of infested outer branches. A heavy infestation may also kill the host plant…. Mistletoe is relevant to several cultures. Pagan cultures regarded the white berries as symbols of male fertility…In the advent of the Christian era, mistletoe became associated with Christmas as a decoration under which lovers are expected to kiss…” (Source: Wikipedia.com)

GHOST OF SUMMER

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
its white berries cling 
like unanswered prayers~ 
a thief in the oak’s gnarled arms
hung between 
the living and the dead.
  
who hung this ghost of summer here?  
not root, not branch~
yet its green persists.
 
why do we kiss beneath
this thief’s branch,  
parasite of oak, stealer of light? 
 
perhaps because love, too,
takes root in wounds 
we cannot name.

12th gradechristmaslovefree verse

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