Ashless the Birds ( O Phoenix in the Waters)

Painting by Sheri Doty


ashless the birds (o phoenix in the waters)


he says it is not about making decisions
based on what is viewed as right
& wrong in the sense
of this is black
& this is not
that life
itself
is
neither
worth nor
not worth leaning
into a course of action
(we watch dynamite explosions
from the back seat of a limousine)

are you afraid to change
the science of fear
is unknown to
Buddha: or
as if death
wins is
an end
only
if
you
believe
in winning or
how every road
has another horizon

turn on the TV
just tonight
& let no
one in
just
to be
watching
something that
is not at all real
& breathe like it
is all that matters
& when you dream
do not remember what
they say & let light carry you


leaving the city streets up & down these hills
ribbons remind him of those days & silver
veins pulsing in the hides of mad boys
all the possibilities of empty skies
how a certain copse of trees
belongs to vague secrets
to years that dressed
in watery light
a blue circus
prophet of
deserts
lost to
mere
time

when sex
is something
more & less than sex
when death is more & less
than the corpse of a rabbit in a ditch
when to be naked is more powerful than god
& the trembling of a voice
to an out of tune guitar
says all that needs to be said of longing
& the blood oranges fall from sacks
as we run backwards laughing
at all we could never steal
& will you remember
that face turning as
you crossed


in the flats of the creek
limestone sheets
write what
a water
lost

she sits alone
legs crossed
pieces of
stone in
hand

worrying them
she smiles & reaches
for one that slipped away
they all slip away she thinks
& even she is not there anymore

the viola is a little larger
than a violin she says
it makes the tears
seem bigger
than god

or if a comb passes
thru your hair
just once
whose
is it

& climbing up
she extends
her hand
to feed
a bird

the fireplace
is empty
ashless
& she
flies


Richard Lance Williams

Posted over on More Poetry