Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Bright Stars Tanka Anthology, Volume 7, November 2014

this amulet
of feather and bone
how frail
the hope that my verity
could banish your demons


trade winds
washing through my hair
at ocean's edge
the salt of forgiveness
in morning's mercy


we compose
the music of our lives
with grace notes
scattered between
lullaby and requiem


winter winds
play an aeolian harp
of barbed wire
a lone coyote and i howl
at the long night moon


all i ask
from you is sanctuary
the world's weight
is upon me and my hands
are filled with weeping


on the stroke of


my parachute
careens earthward
p u n c t u r e d
by flashes of memory
in this blur of falling

paralysis
ineffable fear
knocking
at the closed door
of my understanding

shadowed maws
swallow me whole
s p i t t i n g
my softened bones
into the crib of a coffin

thirst
silver trees
nurse me
from torn bags
of slow-dripping rain

i am swaddled
in a blue shroud
c r a d l e d
in the web of my harness
rocking like a baby

hunger
a roosting bird
spoons worms
into the red gape
of my slack mouth

so many voices
in my broken brain
g a r b l e d
all the tangled lifelines
that hold me here

loneliness
creatures hover
and shout
someone else's name
as if i cannot hear

i exist
between layers of life
i m p r i s o n e d
keeping the company
of ghosts and crows



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