Houseleek
Jupiter’s beard
hens-and-chickens
sempervivum…
this plant is always green, neither is it hurt
by the cold in the winter, growing in its native soil.
Its juice
takes away the fire of burnings and scaldings
cures gout and deafness
hemorrhage and headache
but it is not for these
that you grow it on your roof,
that its woody stalks and gross leaves
push under the shingles
spread like stars under your bed
like little tongues very curiously minced in the edges,
nor is it to ward off lightning.
Plant one more woman.
She will multiply like chickens,
images of herself, thick and juicy,
and it will not matter what you call her
but that she is there.
