Ceiling Roses

  (one) The implication if I use the noun rose in lieu of the verb rose. Never misspelling a thing, arranging arousal like flowers.       (two) She tells me he told her that flowers should only be arranged in uneven numbers on a prearranged day of the week he offers up three or five or seven flowers to the vase. Roses are never very far from the other ’s access to lace.     (three) Things to place in vases— Flour ashes Dissensions Negative space Not for naught The inner narrative of an urn Contemporaneously all poetry Words headers on dashes A history of shards Shapeless mess of emotion Verb and verb constructions (I sit and write) Filigree of ceiling rose arrangements Electric stems lit descending before another god gets lost god se beentjie[1. god’s little bone / god’s little leg] being Are these a gift or for you? For me.       (four) Thank god we fact-checked the name for botanic and botanical gardens are ambivalent meanings when the poet steps on stage and suggests that immigrant and emigrant might be the same I want to rough up exegesis before everyone but decency intervenes and the distance between thrusts lingers.       (five) Long-stemmed high-rises thorns thread shed slit of shears and other data I don’t know’s necessary.       (six) City of roses[2. Byname of Bloemfontein, South Africa, where I grew up] placeholder for growing up fold up hometown this is no term of endearment but an actual epithet gaan julle blommetjies, blommetjies maak[3. blossoms, will you flower? (baby talk)] in desert conversational flowers hold moisture firmly between thumb and index.       (seven) The social ceiling secular rosary road rage is the most unattractive thing. The glass ceiling transparent minorities mounting/s the uppermost fixture/s of the room pearl thongs along lay myths down man.