A Vision

Poem

Ciara in the Field

White rose in hand; she ambles
down pasture, dreams
How can the heart know light?
stuck
in the mud,
It does not see star shine.
plucking sandals
from muck.
It does not see moon light.
She watches lapwing
It does not know brightness of eyes.
dart across field
over cow,
barbed fence
It does not know the mystery of shadow.
and rosebush. Jean bottoms
waterlogged,
soaked through
It does not seem to know its way.
a brown frog croaks
and she stoops
It acts too fast; reacts too slow.
to kiss,
pricks her arm
against a blackthorn
‘A poor torn heart’* never tears in a day.
sloe fruit tart
against lips and tongue.

*from Emily Dickinson’s Part One: Life #49

Poem

Scarlet Fever

Enlargement of the heart,
hands peel, skinless feet,
boney parts; my eyes tear
effortlessly.

My flesh pierced
by the French nails
of the magical dancer’s
fingers and toes. My
eyes tear seductively.

I cry rheumatic volumes
into the hollows
of my skull
and magistrate the length of swelling,
my eyes tear pages
of a heart in motion.

Big Dog

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6291130.stm

Be still my heart, its...its....Sinead.

She's touring. Her new album is smashing.

Unique for Ciara

To lie still
in the web of her smile
your tongue in your mouth
until she unleashes it
from its lair to wag
and roll,
to lie still
when she rolls her body
hip over hip,
a mountain you wish to climb
and contemplate
this one question:
is this, ‘the house of Bedlam*?’

This one answer:
to lie still
upon her, a breath,
an exhale, is to lie still
amid the collections of the day
and reflections of the night
sky and lie still
in the color of the night,
the color of my hands, the bed linens,
the bed knob, the pillows,
the cuckoo clock
everything motionless white
and morning.

*from “Visits to St. Elizabeths” by Elizabeth Bishop

Poem

Attention for Ciara

Overshadowed
by the moon
I crept into her
light as a monsoon.
Simple touch of fallen
leaves would have been enough.

Seen me come; seen her
go.

Bedeviled
by the night
I leapt into her
shadow entranced by
the light; the light
does not hold me
unless at night. I can see
your eyes clearly show
the moon and stars
splintering into a million
slivers caught by my eyes
and tongue.