Eileen R. Tabios

CANDESCENCE
(May 2022, Napa Valley)

White roses bring
snow amidst
drought—

The same white
of ashed
cities—

The same white
of pages
emptied

of solutions with
consolation existing
only

by smoothening issues
into virtual
images—

flattening substance into
white roses
blossoming

as if wars
weren’t
inflicted

against the climate
against Kharkiv
against

Kyiv, against Chernihiv
against Mariupol
against

Kherson, against Mykolaiv
against Odessa
against

Sunflowers whose gold
whitened into
gray