~
Firmly rooted in the strength of grace
the birds alight on the stiff raised arms of poets
balanced on one foot in the spaces left standing
between the tenuous structures that remain
~
Insubstantial and vaguely reminiscent
~
The flooding waters begin to recede
as the detritus of the displaced
live on in our frightened prayers and their own cardboard hollows
carrying the burden of our collective magnificence
~
The sun arrives late as the dogs and donkeys
shiver in the new light … in the heat
in the washed out fragrance of urine and slowly drying fear
their familiar trails erased how will they find home?
~
Tree limbs with radial fractures leaves crushed
a chaotic maze of leaching chlorophyll
roots holding to rocks waiting for loosened soil
to settle the wail of a child
~
The water heavy with suffering, eddies in wrong places
weary from the seizures of epileptic unbalance
made other and reduced to an inventory of unfamiliar relationship
to wood to concrete to flesh
~
the eye looks for one familiar thing in its place with another
a chair and a table, a table and a glass, a glass and a pitcher,
a single glass and a pitcher the thirsty eye raised
to rest for a moment on a recognizable sky
~
the sun comes up
and the birds continue to alight
on the stiff raised arms of poets
~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Artist: Max Ernst