floating and leaving no trace
something black flashes
in the grass
exactly the way
light doesn’t expand
overhead the sun blazes
behind a white cloud
and casts a long black shadow
across the sky
an oil slick on blue
underground
moving toward me
the bones in my feet
phalange proximal metatarsal
vibrate with its approach
something insensate and unilluminated
flashes underground
knowing me without knowing
i am a stained glass saint
and you are a high-pitched
tuning fork pressed against
my flattened multiple colors
you ring
i respond
with crack and shatter
fake gems from a pirate
souvenir shop scattered on
the floor
the red ones are my hearts
the blue ones whatever resolve
i kept in check
more hot lead
and patience
will be required
the only thing
i have ever seen
from looking inside
is
the insides of my eyelids
this is a window
but you think
you are outside
i pull you back
until you see
the frame
the sill
the sudden reflection
of light on glass
your own ghost
like pigment transferred to acetate
marbled, colorful, but hardly there
a film’s second exposure
and through that the world
you think you see
with your eyes
the sky is a blue jaw
filled with scattered
broken teeth
no blood
no pain
just exposed and shattered enamel
pearls left to drift
carved out and
carving out
like ivory islands
which is another way
to address the bones of
the sky
look up to keep
from looking
the metallic squawks
of other birds
rise and scream
ascend descend ascend
and count and count
and count and demand more time
and you’re out
jump free
of your chains
bury yourself in sand
laughing squawking counting
the grasshopper on the wall
as long as a dodger dog
leaps at our approach
smacks-face-first-bam
into the wall opposite
falls into the rosemary
the clouds are maxfield parrish
strata, pulled, ripped
strawberry pink and orange
creamsicle dripping across
a cooling blue expanse
the sun at just the right angle
look back after looking down
and every color has been leeched
to gray
but the color of lead offers
its own comfort
signalling a purple sky
promising half a moon
once more i want to stand
upon that beach
remove my shoes though you know
i hate the sand against my skin
but i want to stand at the edge
of the sea
my feet in the wet sand
the water swirling around my ankles
i will stand against
the pull of the water
as sand is drawn out to sea
and i sink feet first
i want to remain there
as moon toys with tide
ground down like sea glass
the ocean and sand polishing me
standing still
sinking into wet sand
until the sea is over my head
and my edges have been smoothed away
Words and Feathers 