An Elegiac Tone Predominates
Winter flight
of starlings
dark curtain let fall
across cirrus winged like the gift
of direction
twin lungs charmed
in tin chained at the throat
to spell back breatha missing
fluencybloom a freeze
that lasts all season
plastic tulipsrosesgraven garden
fully blown that first day given
to undying before the river was born
fallingcarving
limestone to canyon over
millions of years
millions what’s been scratched
out from historybronze plaque at the Falls
to stunt distance back to
in the beginning when there was nothing
not horizon
time held in the space
of two hands
this world in parenthesesan aside
beneath a balding
northern sky
hole in the skinthe winding cloth
searchlight zeroingwarmingthe body
an amuleta luminous stem atmosphere
breathes through
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April 16, 2012 Verse Daily
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