SOUTH FLORIDA POETRY JOURNAL
  • Poetry #37 May '25
  • Flash #37 May '25
  • Poetry #36 Feb '25
  • Flash #36 Feb '25
  • Latinx Poetry Month
  • The Maureen Seaton Prize
    • Maureen Seaton's Poetry
  • JUST SAY GAY
  • ABOUT
    • Archives >
      • Poetry #35 Nov '24
      • Flash #35 Nov '24
      • Poetry #34 Aug '24
      • Flash #34 Aug '24
      • POETRY #33 May '24
      • FLASH #33 May '24
      • POETRY #32 Feb '24
      • FLASH #32 Feb '24
      • POETRY #31 NOV '23
      • FLASH #31 NOV '23
      • Poetry #30 AUG '23
      • FLASH #30 AUG '23
      • Poetry #29 MAY '23
      • FLASH #29 May '23
      • Poetry #28 Feb '23
      • Flash #28 Feb '23
      • Poetry #27 - NOV 22
      • FLASH #27 - Nov 22
      • POETRY #26 - AUG 22
      • FLASH #26 - AUG 22
      • POETRY #25 - May 22
      • FLASH #25 - May 22
      • POETRY #24 - Feb 22
      • FLASH #24 - FEB 22
      • POETRY #23 - NOV 21
      • FLASH #23 - NOV 21
      • ISSUE 22 POETRY AUG 21 >
        • ISSUE 22 POETRY PG 2 AUG 21
      • ISSUE 22 FLASH AUG 21
      • ISSUE 21 POETRY MAY 2021
      • ISSUE 21 FLASH May 2021
      • ISSUE 20 FEB 2021
      • ISSUE 19 NOV 2020
      • ISSUE 18 AUG 2020
      • Issue 18 Pt. 2 of AUG 2020
      • ISSUE 17 MAY 2020
      • ISSUE 16 FEB 2020
      • ISSUE 15 NOV 2019
      • ISSUE 14 AUG 2019
      • ISSUE 13 MAY 2019
      • ISSUE 12 FEB 2019
      • ISSUE 11 NOV 2018
      • ISSUE 10 AUG 2018
      • ISSUE 9 MAY 2018
      • ISSUE 8 FEB 2018
      • ISSUE 7 NOV 2017
      • ISSUE 6 AUG 2017
      • ISSUE 5 MAY 2017
      • ISSUE 4 FEB 2017 >
        • Kostelanetz Visual Poem
      • ISSUE 3 NOV 2016
      • ISSUE 2 AUG 2016
      • ISSUE 1 MAY 2016
    • Calendar
    • Contributors >
      • Contributors 2016-19
    • MASTHEAD
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Tip Jar
  • Essays 2024-25
    • Essays 2022-23
    • Essays 2020-21
  • Interviews 2024-25
    • Interviews 2022-23
    • Interviews 2020-21
    • Interviews 2016-19
  • Reviews 2024-25
    • Reviews 2022-23
    • Reviews 2020-21
    • Reviews 2016-19
  • Special Section
    • A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUTH FLORIDA POETRY
    • Adam Day
    • Album of Fences
    • Broadsides
    • Favorite Poems
    • Follow the Dancer
    • In Memoriam, John Arndt
    • Hargitai Humanism and
    • Kiss & Tell
    • Lennon McCartney
    • Neighborhood of Make-Believe
    • PBPF Ekphrastic Contest
    • Paradise
    • Patricia Whiting Memorial
    • Rystar
    • Surfside
    • Visit to the Rio Grande
    • WHAT FICTION ARE YOU READING?
    • SNAPS
    • SoFloPoJo Nominations >
      • Best of the Net Nominations
  • Video
    • Florida Center for the Book
    • MIAMI BOOK FAIR Interviews >
      • MBF2023 >
        • MBF2022
    • MIAMI BOOK FAIR POEMS
    • Palm Beach Poetry Festival
    • SFPJ Video 2024-25
    • SFPJ Video 2022-23
    • SFPJ Video 2016-21
  • Visual Arts 2024-25
    • Visual Arts 2022-23
    • Visual Arts 2020-21
    • Visual Arts 2016-19
  • WITCHERY
  • Chameleon Chimera Contributors
  • CHAMELEON CHIMERA
  • Poetry #37 May '25
  • Flash #37 May '25
  • Poetry #36 Feb '25
  • Flash #36 Feb '25
  • Latinx Poetry Month
  • The Maureen Seaton Prize
    • Maureen Seaton's Poetry
  • JUST SAY GAY
  • ABOUT
    • Archives >
      • Poetry #35 Nov '24
      • Flash #35 Nov '24
      • Poetry #34 Aug '24
      • Flash #34 Aug '24
      • POETRY #33 May '24
      • FLASH #33 May '24
      • POETRY #32 Feb '24
      • FLASH #32 Feb '24
      • POETRY #31 NOV '23
      • FLASH #31 NOV '23
      • Poetry #30 AUG '23
      • FLASH #30 AUG '23
      • Poetry #29 MAY '23
      • FLASH #29 May '23
      • Poetry #28 Feb '23
      • Flash #28 Feb '23
      • Poetry #27 - NOV 22
      • FLASH #27 - Nov 22
      • POETRY #26 - AUG 22
      • FLASH #26 - AUG 22
      • POETRY #25 - May 22
      • FLASH #25 - May 22
      • POETRY #24 - Feb 22
      • FLASH #24 - FEB 22
      • POETRY #23 - NOV 21
      • FLASH #23 - NOV 21
      • ISSUE 22 POETRY AUG 21 >
        • ISSUE 22 POETRY PG 2 AUG 21
      • ISSUE 22 FLASH AUG 21
      • ISSUE 21 POETRY MAY 2021
      • ISSUE 21 FLASH May 2021
      • ISSUE 20 FEB 2021
      • ISSUE 19 NOV 2020
      • ISSUE 18 AUG 2020
      • Issue 18 Pt. 2 of AUG 2020
      • ISSUE 17 MAY 2020
      • ISSUE 16 FEB 2020
      • ISSUE 15 NOV 2019
      • ISSUE 14 AUG 2019
      • ISSUE 13 MAY 2019
      • ISSUE 12 FEB 2019
      • ISSUE 11 NOV 2018
      • ISSUE 10 AUG 2018
      • ISSUE 9 MAY 2018
      • ISSUE 8 FEB 2018
      • ISSUE 7 NOV 2017
      • ISSUE 6 AUG 2017
      • ISSUE 5 MAY 2017
      • ISSUE 4 FEB 2017 >
        • Kostelanetz Visual Poem
      • ISSUE 3 NOV 2016
      • ISSUE 2 AUG 2016
      • ISSUE 1 MAY 2016
    • Calendar
    • Contributors >
      • Contributors 2016-19
    • MASTHEAD
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Tip Jar
  • Essays 2024-25
    • Essays 2022-23
    • Essays 2020-21
  • Interviews 2024-25
    • Interviews 2022-23
    • Interviews 2020-21
    • Interviews 2016-19
  • Reviews 2024-25
    • Reviews 2022-23
    • Reviews 2020-21
    • Reviews 2016-19
  • Special Section
    • A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUTH FLORIDA POETRY
    • Adam Day
    • Album of Fences
    • Broadsides
    • Favorite Poems
    • Follow the Dancer
    • In Memoriam, John Arndt
    • Hargitai Humanism and
    • Kiss & Tell
    • Lennon McCartney
    • Neighborhood of Make-Believe
    • PBPF Ekphrastic Contest
    • Paradise
    • Patricia Whiting Memorial
    • Rystar
    • Surfside
    • Visit to the Rio Grande
    • WHAT FICTION ARE YOU READING?
    • SNAPS
    • SoFloPoJo Nominations >
      • Best of the Net Nominations
  • Video
    • Florida Center for the Book
    • MIAMI BOOK FAIR Interviews >
      • MBF2023 >
        • MBF2022
    • MIAMI BOOK FAIR POEMS
    • Palm Beach Poetry Festival
    • SFPJ Video 2024-25
    • SFPJ Video 2022-23
    • SFPJ Video 2016-21
  • Visual Arts 2024-25
    • Visual Arts 2022-23
    • Visual Arts 2020-21
    • Visual Arts 2016-19
  • WITCHERY
  • Chameleon Chimera Contributors
  • CHAMELEON CHIMERA
SOUTH FLORIDA POETRY JOURNAL
Laura Sobbott Ross         Mount Dora          (Jeff Santosuosso)
Amaryllis

We readied the bulbs in the days before
the baby arrived. Full solstice moon
nudging what was curled inside its own
winter sleep; every bulb, nested & rooting.
Miraculous, the way green startled
out, ribboned toward the light--
light that was a new dominion
lording across a tracery of capillaries,
eyelashes, flutter of breath,
the fusing of the soft crown of bone.
I’m talking about the baby,
of course, whose wails shuddered open
from her newly dredged lungs, while amaryllis
pushed and pushed its flame points skyward
till they fell over on their new, floppy necks
into the full-throated red of bell-shaped blossoms.

Originally published in National Poetry Review

​
SoFloPoJo - South Florida Poetry Journal   &  Witchery, the place for Epoems            Copyright © 2016-2025