Supple singed
This morning
had a rainbow come through the panes
ate it off my breakfast plate
felt the fertile soil of the valley beat
under my hot feet
on the hot concrete
and will crack
hard slew will come up
one of the hundred million-year plates
shall roll over us
mess with the dead and they come in your dreams
This morning
the dog I put down came on the breeze
stinking lovely as she was
dozing in a spot of sun
Sweet Pepe arrives through the buckling screen
and the Buddha comes also to me
warm squinting lifted snarling
depends whether
I myself am supple
or singed.
(After Peggy Stone)
And now
in the midst of my handiwork
poking through the din and the silence
I hear my neighbor sobbing
and I remember
he has lost his wife
he has an aria playing
and he is sobbing
and I look out now of my reverie and I see the bars of rain
I can only see them now
bars of the gently falling prison
bars that fall and rise
with her voice
his aria
his wife
my neighbor goes on sobbing and I see
things I don't see always
he is alone in his grief
it is as this work is
but I would like to go to him.
Star
Sometimes Of Course You
don't have a choice
sometimes your lover gets ill and dies
and this brilliant vibrant compassionate person
full of wonder
is
gone
but remains in your heart
whatever is comfortable for you
staring through the abyss of the nucleus
this is what she offers you
rain bridges
north poles
the sky nail
a black hole
you will cross dark space on the wings of blackbirds
you will become the self-sustaining furnace
that you are
and your wife will
exclaim
in wonder
Star!
and she is with you again.
Henry Grier Stanton
