NCPS Poet Laureate Award Poem 2003

The Narrative Possibilities of Coral

© by Priscilla Webster-Williams


       I could tell you that coral was born
       when Medusa's head was severed
       and her blood was mixed with sand.
       I could say red coral drives away
       the evil eye, or that coral is the color
       of berries, shrubs, fungus, and lobster eggs.
       I could say Renaissance scholars
       thought polished coral came from Mars,
       or that coral-colored roses covered
       my mother in her casket. I could say
       a local man painted my house a Mexican
       Coral Brick, that I planted coralberry to get
       clusters of coral-red fruit, or that I lie
       in a hammock under coral honeysuckle
       near woody vines and heart-shaped leaves.
       I could. I could tell you.

Originally published in the North Carolina Poetry Society's
Pinesong: Awards 2003. Used here with permission of the poet.