04-12-2016, 12:54 AM
The Cage is Empty
A Parrot Flies Toward Neptune
Street lamps in straight accord recede
toward the horizon over cracks, separations
imagined divisions between blackened ice flows
amidst which fishing boats drift without occupants.
The earth is dark and crumbled. Scorched
tree trunks tip below silhouettes
of crudely fashioned crosses on the skyline.
A gray feather attaches to the bottle of the nest.
On a hickory tabletop a fork and a spoon
of different design, a pristine bone china plate.
The outline of a hand holds the outline
of an inverted drinking glass.
Oak benches twenty-two feet each direction
over maple floors to echo on bare walls,
if there were sounds to echo.
Two windows give light to long reflections.
Archways to the left allow the room to drain.
A folding chair opens in the spotlight on a darkened stage
a place to sit in a circle of light, nothing more.
A Parrot Flies Toward Neptune
Street lamps in straight accord recede
toward the horizon over cracks, separations
imagined divisions between blackened ice flows
amidst which fishing boats drift without occupants.
The earth is dark and crumbled. Scorched
tree trunks tip below silhouettes
of crudely fashioned crosses on the skyline.
A gray feather attaches to the bottle of the nest.
On a hickory tabletop a fork and a spoon
of different design, a pristine bone china plate.
The outline of a hand holds the outline
of an inverted drinking glass.
Oak benches twenty-two feet each direction
over maple floors to echo on bare walls,
if there were sounds to echo.
Two windows give light to long reflections.
Archways to the left allow the room to drain.
A folding chair opens in the spotlight on a darkened stage
a place to sit in a circle of light, nothing more.