not all of us are perennials

an immediate downpour
from the blue beyond

strong enough to
carve boulders in two
cactus choking water down
with a drenched spine
drowner's arms

drought-stricken creatures
like us hardly know it

remember when
we would wait all winter
for one warm spot
of sunlight

the feeling
of finally sitting there
we could peel back our hoods
and unzip our parkas

a blessed moment
with our bodies unfurling like
plants from the snow

graffitied pillars
plunged into the sand
wading into the pacific
dark and briny

the sun streams
white onto the waves

where pigeons roost
rocked softly to sleep
by ferris wheel rotations
and busker lullaby

on either side
we have found home

changes are growing
slowly like rosebushes
still raw and thorny
but a promise swelling

may we all
have such patience

in a place like this one
same sun different ocean
rocks twins of these

time ebbs
and i am small again

waist deep in the shallows
where every incoming wave
feels like drowning

who were we then
standing on the shoreline
separated like
two halves of heart

You're so close to your goal! Best of luck getting that last one in, I particularly love poem 14 because it has all my favorite imagery - beautiful ending too. Your poems all seem to focus on such nice concrete images and then expand into these beautiful little reflections. Lovely to read.

what after all
is this life supposed to
represent

the dead will never die again
and each flower will still try
to unfurl year to year
from earth's brown plume

i would save them
from this cycle but i have
learned that not all of us
are meant to be perennials.

And congratulations hitting your goal! Perfect conclusion for your thread, bringing in all those floral themes together.