Arena
By: Elizabeth Ambos
I went back to the arena
With flowers this time
Fanged phlox, daggered asters
lavender sheafed as a shield
Still the blood rose In the battle sand
And I was broken to thorns
Crowned by my Masters
Planted about the hospital bed
I went back back I went to the arena
With time in these flowers
Clocked daisies bobbing all manner of lies
Scant tarpit of petals
As thumbs list downhill
Lilies fall
Monitors now still
Elizabeth Ambos writes and lives in Washington, DC. She has inhabited multiple careers as a scientist, teacher,
and administrator in higher education affiliated organizations. An Academy of American Poets prize winner as
an undergraduate, she has published in Spillway and Poet Magazine. A long time ago. Now poetry has coming calling again.