Perfect Dragonfly - A Cento (Poem)

Perfect Dragonfly — A Cento

To stay alive, she swims in blue-green lakes and red wine,
Laying eggs, on a good day, equal to her body weight.
As drifts pile up, foot by foot, you hear
The earth's contours like a harmless snake.
The body was gone, but there was a stain
On the steel polished by those great wheels.
I did not know what to say, my mouth dumb,
Sewn up inside the empty sparrow's nest.

_________________________

Sources

Title: Perfect Dragonfly (Red Dragonfly Press, 2011)

Line 1: Freya Manfred, "One True Thing"
Line 2: Edith Rylander, "Hive Dancer"
Line 3: Christine Stewart-Nunez, "Because You Never Thought It Could Be Beautiful"
Line 4: Nancy Paddock, "Lie Down"
Line 5: Patrick Hicks, "The Kiss That Saved My Life"
Line 6: Dale Jacobson, "At the Site of the Old Round House"
Line 7: Katrina Vandenberg, "On the Bog Road through Connemara"
Line 8: Diane Jaryenpa, "Ancient Wonders, the Modern World"