Wednesday, December 3, 2014

HEART THREAD Parts Seventy-Seven and Seventy-Eight

77.

Peaceable vortex a thun is a time set apart
to be itself alone and nothing doing in it but itself
a session on the other side of the self to call it
door shut mind open listen to listening
kept wanting more of it the cheekbones
the tail feathers of equal length the pinions
rimmed with blue though they look black
magpies on the road in Colorado home on the ground
dig deep to find the surfaces of things
I am left with a zodiac on my hands
can I interest you in being me a while
while I sail your white ship into the typhoon?

78.

Woodpeckers four fledglings from a locust tree
one more priest one more shepherd
sheepless a crowd of unbelievers
a perfect place an island think of Latin
it never hurts to ask how red your poll
sweet predators Mavors’ insectivore
do you hear his chimes beneath the sea
no that is the wind that is Schubert all alone
no one paid attention to the clumsy instrument
the beak a young man has to know the world
I slept my way out of more towns than this
town or dream what difference she lifts her skirt.