Lilia Dobos: "Pollination"

Pollination

Among the summer green
                          we walk with adolescent
palms picking honeysuckle and sharing
                                           our sweet. He picks the good
 
ones for me and tells me to lick
                              the nectar. We race
to the house and back, catching
 
our breaths, faces
                                 blushed, and golden
 heat. 
                                            I remember
 
the backyard trail and its dust: 
the dirty taste
 
in my mouth. I wonder what we 
                            said on those walks, our prepubescent
legs carrying sweat and grime. I give him 
                             a bracelet that says sexy and run 
 
away, far too young to commit
                            to such a statement, far 
too shy to admit
                            I want to.

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Lilia is a current graduate student studying English at Salisbury University, where she also teaches Research and Composition. Her poems have been published in Barely South Review, New Mexico Review, The Shore, and elsewhere.