I have sent California
an 8oz, thin plastic recyclable
bottle filled with water.
The label calls it “Purified.”
I imagine it poured
upon a terracotta potted plant,
the mistress saving the last sip
to savor for herself, while waiting
for the bud to unwrap its face
and seek rain.
Jim Gustafson’s most recent book, Driving Home, was published by Aldrich Press in 2013 and is a 2013 Pushcart Prize Nominee. He holds an MFA from University of Tampa and a M. Div., from Garrett Theological Seminary. He teaches at Florida Gulf Coast University and Florida Southwestern State College. His work has most recently appeared in Prick of the Spindle, Foliate Oak, Poetry Quarterly. He lives in Fort Myers, Florida, where he reads, writes, and pulls weeds.
